Mohammed Asif what a bowler/Could he be next Captain?

I know Asif was involved in drug scandal, he was banned for 18 months but he has served his punishment and has back as a regular member of the team.

I always have a great respect for him as a bowler, as a player who has very smart and genius head on his shoulder. He follows Glen McGarth's school of bowling , who set the traps for the batsman and than take their scalps. His line and length and control of his bowling is amazing.

In a time when Pakistan is struggling to find a new leader, there is no one in the team who could be be automatic in all form of the game. But Mohammad Asif is one player who could definitely hold his spot in all forms of the game. He not only knows the bowling but quite smart about the game. He has learned his lessons and he could be a good person for the young players to guide them in better directions. He seems be well liked by his team players.

To me, he could be an excellent choice for our next captain and a decision that could save Pakistan cricket for any further disaster.

Bowlers generally do not become captains. I don't think Asif has a captaincy brain, either.

No I don't see Asif as our next captain. They would probably make Kamran Akmal captain before considering him. Plus we have other guys that could take up the captaincy in the future. Asif just needs to bowl and bowl for the rest of his career and make use of that amazing talent he's been given by Allah.

Bob Willis, Courtney Walsh, Waqar Younis,.. were all fast bowlers.

I am just speechless. No words to describe his bowling. Brilliant stuff.

what happened??

Shoaib and Asif coulsd be a bad influence on the youngsters and should never be appointed as captains

He is bowling with perfection. Batsmen have no clue as the ball is moving both ways. Umpires are making incorrect decisions when he is bowling and fielders are dropping catches of his bowling but yet he finds a way to take wickets. He is indeed the Gem that Pakistani fans thought he was when he first came on to the scene.

He is back!!!!

please yaar..

can we give this crap a break and dont start these useless thread for every sneez etc...

whats the obsession with putting every single player on that cappo chair?

MYK will be back and he should continue to lead us for next 2-4 years...Malik the paindu group baaz needs ot be kicked out

Wazmiester you create way too many useless threads.

...captain?

Asif has been in too many controversies for that. He's already proven he isn't the smartest guy around. Let him bowl as much as possible but he is definitely not captaincy material

I'd like to see Afridi or YK as captain

and how well they led their team?

yeah just make everyone captain

Afridi was also invloved in controversies, do you forget about his pitch tempering, fighting with Younis Khan in West Indies? What about Mohammad Yousuf leaving the PCB and joining the rebel ICL league? Younis Khan has also become controversial due to his temper. Waseem Akram, Waqar, Moin Khan, were involved in match fixing controversies.

Majority of the current or past captains were involved in some sort of controversies. In fact Pakistan cricket and controversies goes hand and hand.

It's a shame he was out for almost 2 years. He could have made a great record for himself. But then again, we didn't play that many test matches anyway.

It's great to have him back. Asif and Aamer are a brilliant combo. All we need is a 150+ bowler and it will be the complete attack.

Premature again.
What a joke to even think of Asif being a leader.
Next in line we say Umar Akmal should be captain after scoring 5 more centuries on the trot or something

How about making any player from Karachi as a captain, would you consider that thread as a useful thread?

It is not premature, He was vice captain, but lost his place due to his drug ban. Since he has served his ban, and if he is allowed to play, he could become a captain. If he was good for the vice captain, he should become the next captain.

wasim akram was batsman he's bolwer too

No!

According to the seniority rule, he should be right behind me in the line. Let's gove MoYo another match before we "backstab" him.

We always knew what a bowler Asif is. What we dont know is whether he will show any consistency in his discipline and subsequently do justice to his talents.

Anyone can become a captain of Pakistan team, we have a trend to surprise.

if he had not been involved in his drug case so uptil now he would hv done much better for pakistan and the series which we lost we could had won it. so he is a great bowler no doubt.

He was a good vice captain?!
Wow that is big news to me.

wow that must have hurt ..

let me know if you still need my Birth Cirtificate to prove my birth place..

why are you being so sensitive to what i said? thats a fact bro..live with it...

Asif being captain

Thats a joke if there ever was one

Why would you want to ruin a good thing by making him captain. He's a top class bowler and lets just enjoy having him back!

Asif has to improve his pace, he cannot survive in the subcontinent, flat wickets bowling at 123-130 km/hr deliveries.

That is true... Should be around 135k

Was McGrath ever made captain?

Sorry, but I think this is a ridiculous thread.

You have an unhealthy obsession with pace.

He has already proved himself on flat tracks.

Typical knee-jerk reaction

Fantastic bowler...but captun? Nope!

captain? NO!!

if only he had a bit more pace.... would be much more lethal..

What do u think dunedin was a green top!!!!!!

Asif becoming captain? Nah. Don't see that happening.

Another OTT suggestion? You know why we never get much consistency? It's because as soon as someone does anything of note they get legendary status! Legendary status is earned over a career, not a dozen matches.

If a tailender makes a few runs, we want to make him a specialist batsman (e.g. malik) which follows into captaincy. If a useless batsman makes a century he becomes a great.....

A bowler shows a bit of promise and we base our whole strategy around him and give him the ball all day (e..g. kaneria)

Now, a decent comeback following drugs, injuries and some very ordinary limited overs performances, Asif is not only all of a sudden a dead cert in ALL forms of the game, he is the captain too.....WAH!

never say never...so what if he doesn't look the part?

Personally I will never like to see Asif as a captain, Kamran Akmal can be a good captain, the way he guides his own brother on the field is a perfect preview of what he can do when given the responsibilities of the whole team. Even Afridi can do well in test cricket provided he plays it, whereas for Asif bowling wise yes he is the best bowler & will be leading the attack for many years to come by.

Kamran cannt guide his own mind let alone guiding and leading the team.

LOL asif captain hahahaha!!!!! no doubt hes a great bowler but captain? LOL

Asif as a captain ???
Let's just give it to Umar Akmal or even Azeem Ghumman???

RELAX!!!!!!!!!!!

He's the best bowler in Pakistan circuit. Too early to say anything about captaincy..

I agrre! Asif as captain? Give me a break!

Umar Akmal for captain!!!

Yes OXY even i was chanting that and Aamer for fun as that seems to be a joke now more than anything.

To believe in it the way the OP does... only after 1 match on a surface thats supporting him is just utter nonsense.

After 5 years of performance and discipline and maybe it can be a possibility.

Actually I am waiting for this, next time instead of writing, " Let me know if I still need it", please post it with your user ID and password to prove, that it is you. I will pay all the expense of posting.

asif cant get his personal life straight at this stage .. hard to see him incharge of our cricket team ...

Kamran Akmal is too "simple" to be a leader.

If Butt had fullfilled his potential he would have made a good leader.
Only time will tell but my bet would be Alam or Umar Akmal.

Yes Karachi is in Island.

What is this obsession about pace?

Batsman as a captain has never been successful in the past for Pakistan team and never will be. I am pretty sure that batsman like Yousuf, Younus, Malik will never be good captain. But we don't have alternate option at the moment.

I am counting on Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer. These both bowlers will be there for Pakistan no matter what. Give them time and then groom them for the captaincy and give them power as well.

There is guaranteed for the green pitch in Pakistan if bowler as captain is considered, and knowing that bowler love nothing more than fast assistance pitch. Otherwise, batsman as captain will never consider fine pitch in Test series for Pakistan.

Majority of the Pakistani players have problems in personal life. If you dont know, that is a different issue.

So you have no problem with a player as a captain, who can hold the straight bat and you are giving opinion here about the best bowler of the team?

I dont understand your comment. Please clarify further.

And where does it say that I am not allowed to give my opinion? I thought that was the purpose of this forum?

Where did I say, you are not allowed to give your opinion? Is this a receptive issue or comprehension issue, please clarify.

Yaar dont complicate things for him we all know his not the brightest of kids he should be left to do what he is excellent at which is bowl all day.

Dude dont waste my time.

no i wont post it for the world to see ..u are the one claiming to be a patriot **** and not me...

stop pointing finger..if there is prob say it there is...dont be part of the prob, be part of the solution...

No.

Definetly not captaincy material.

As a future captain - I would say Umar Akmal. He definetly seems to notice things around him and seems like a player who can adapt to conditions/situations.

I say let's not waste time and make Umar Akmal captain right now!

Not so fast...Khurram Manzoor first.

not if he still has that freaky racoon hairdo

he is a good bowler, as for as captaincy concern, 1st of all he cannot travel to UAE for the rest of his lyf......, u do not want a captain who can only be a captain on away tours

Can we please stop with the speculation of captaincy , there is the small case of a test to be won first.

Furthermore with the alacrity with which the PCB destroys promising careers and resurrects unwanted fat , lets not jump ahead of ourselves.

These threads about promising young players being potential captains are beyond naive. I cringe every time I read one.

For any team, leadership is extremely important element. Pakistan team has been mediocre for a while and will remain mediocre until we find the right man who could lead us right way.

We are lucky to find two great prospects( aamir and Umar Akmal) who both are young and we can certainly build the team around them. But in order for the team to build, you need proper leadership. I don't think Mohammad Yousuf is the right man for this job.

You will see some success here and there but that is not going to take anywhere.

Yes I agree that a team needs a good leader but just because someone is a goood bowler/batsman it does not follow that he has any leadership ability. It's a mistake that asian teams make far too often ie assuming that the best PLAYER has some God-given right to be captain.

Trust me when I made the post, I did not make this post based on his performance as a bowler alone. If you ever listen, he come across as a smart and intelligent cricketer.

My argument was based on, a batsman always going to be under pressure as a captain in Pakistan team, because you are not going to find any batsman who would score on consistent basis, unless you would clone another Inzi.

If you look at the history of Pakistan cricket team, players like Imran Khan, Waseem Akran were more successful than any other captain.The reason is, not they were great captain but they were able to perform on consistent basis. Bowler has more chances to perform on consistent basis than the batsman, and especially if the bowler is Mohammad Asif, he will give you his numbers on day and night basis.

In order to earn the respect from the players, captain has to give performance and it is much easier for the bowler than the batsman to perform on consistent basis. . Also in Pakistan cricket, this is the only way to finish this non sense politics to have somebody who could perform on consistent basis and let the batsmen to play their game without any pressure.

I predict this circus of captaincy will continue until PCB will appoint somebody who could perform on consistent basis and this is the only way other players will respect him and he will talk in their eyes if they don't perform.

As we have seen Mohammad Yousuf could not deliver when his team needed him the most, he is one of the worst captain we ever had in our history.

Pakistan cricket need a player who could deliver on regular basis and this is the only way he could avoid pressure. It is much easier for the bowlers to show consistency than batsman, even players like Sachin Tendulkar failed to deliver when he was captain due to the pressure and job become even more difficult when you are playing cricket in subcontinent, due to the level of expectation from people.

We have a habit of finding the scapegoats after each defeat and first thing we look is captain's performance and if did not deliver, we demand his head.

Mohammad Asif has shown tremendous consistency since he started his carrier and he will get better and better with time and he is the man who could earn the respect from his players. I know there are some question marks on him but there is not a single player in Pakistan team who does not have big question mark. Best thing about him, he is consistent and have good cricketing sense and as a bowler, has attacking instinct.

We are lucky to have Aamir and Umar Akmal, who are extremely promising talented players, we can certainly build the team around these players but we need a leader, without a leader, our team will never find any direction and fans should get ready to see more Sydney repeats in future.

I'm just not to sure about Asif captaining the side. Has he captained a domestic side before? Other than that, he doesn't have any jurisdictions to captain the side besides being an intelligent bowler.

So if Shoaib Malik was a captain of PIA, means he should be given a preference over Asif because he does not have captaincy experience?

Most important thing in captaincy is not the experience but we need a player who is automatic in all formats, he should get the respect from the players and he should show a consistent performance. I don't think beside Asif, we have any other player meet this criteria.

Name the best captains of all the teams of all times.
Find the most common denominator, look for it in the player you have currently then groom him to be the captain.

if we start having our home series in the UAE, we'll have a captain who can't play on his homeground

Honestly speaking, if one thinks about the time when Yousuf/Younis retire, the senior players will be Kamran Akmal(if he survives the next year), Shoaib Malik(if he survives the next year), Umar Gul(if he survives the next year), Danish Kaneria(realistically not captaincy material), and Mohammad Asif(he with a drug addled past). I dont consider Shahid Afridi because he is simply not Test material. Everyone else is either too young or not capable of holding a place in the team. I personally believe that a player should have 2-3 years of test experience before being considered for the captaincy role. Yes, Graeme Smith did not have them, but Graeme Smith is an exceptional player who is mentally very tough. No other team has had a captain who did not have prior Test experience(I dont count Lee Germon, because he was a travesty of a selection, and Aminul Islam, because that was Bangladesh's first test match)

Essentially, out of the 5 seniors listed, the only one who is sure of his place is Asif, because, despite his personal life antics, he is exceptional at his job. Granted that McGrath was an excellent bowler who wasnt captaincy material, but then Shane Warne was an excellent bowler who *is* captaincy material.

By default, the choice for captaincy is Asif, at least until some junior player plays for 2-3 years and establishes himself in the team, to rival for the captaincy spot.

(And yes, I have considered the fact that both Aamer and Umar Akmal are the greatest things since sliced bread, but, when they burst on the scene, the same was said about Javed Miandad, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, etc, and they didnt become test captains in their first year of Test cricket)

Very good analysis and I agree in 2 to 3 years time when both YK and Yousuf are retired then we will have a void of potential captain. I do not want Malik although I was very supportive when he became captain as he has proven to be defensive and seems to live in his own shell.

Asif is a goo choice although personally his experimentation with drugs is a HUGE no no for me and I do not want him to be the captain of my team.

There is a potential captain you have missed. Had he given his rightful chance 2 years ago then he will be in the mix to be Captain in 2-3 year from now. Maybe it is not too late for him. He should be featuring in Hobart and is on the plane as we speak.

Thank you very much for thinking out of the box, unlike majority of the people who stuck to Asif's drug scandal, but they keep forgetting that Waseem and Waqar were involve in drugs scandal, Imran Khan also had allegation for using the drugs.

Mohammad Asif is a real man for this job and he should be the captain of Pakistan team, if we want to avoid further controversies.

I would back him as a captain. I think since his marriage to Veena Malik he seems like more matured and calm person now..........

Umar Akmal for captain

Salman Butt for kaptaan!!

Asif looks like he has a good cricketing brain. Can't see anyone else in team right now who is captain material. I'm sure Asif will be a good captain if given the chance

considering the workload and subsequent strain on a pace bowler, it wouldn't be an ideal scenario. a captain is ideally a batter, where even if his batting falters, his leadersh qualities - field placement, personal fielding, tactical nous etc. more than compensate- and people like Michael Vaughan, Ganguly and a certain Younus Khan spring to mind.

we have a captain but the team doesn't want him. i mean, anyone would oust their stringent manager if it meant they'd get a layabout to lead them, and give them free reign.

Asif as captain would be missing the home series in UAE if ever that happens..