The Professor

By
Ali Aftab Saeed
-
14
210

You shouldn’t be in the team so let’s make you captain

I have a strong feeling that we will regret this decision of handing the T20 captaincy over to Mohammad Hafeez. As if fossils such as Saleem Altaf and Intikhab Alam – who have been around since the dawn of civilization – weren’t enough as its claims to fame, the PCB also has this misguided belief that it can make champions out of nobodies by merely having them in the national team. This latest decision is a variant of the same, where the captaincy spark is recognised in a below-average player.

With the T20 captaincy already under his belt, it is likely that somewhere down the line he will be trusted with the ODI captaincy as well. If we look into Hafeez’ batting stats for his first 60 ODIs, he averages less than 25 (even Afridi averages better, and Afridi has a magnificent strike rate, not to mention his beautiful hair!) Even after 99 ODIs, Hafeez averages a princely 27, with a “strike” rate of 68. To put things into perspective, even Tamim Iqbal averages better. Bangladesh’s other opener, Nazimuddin, averages 14, but he has played only 13 matches so far. I will be surprised if they will let him anywhere near the team if he doesn’t improve his average fast. Of course I won’t commit the blasphemy of bringing the Warners, Amlas, Dilshans, Gayles, and Tendulkars in this discussion on Hafeez.

Hafeez is allegedly a stroke maker. That sounds nice. The problem though is that he has serious issues with his technique. He is easy prey for any good opening fast bowler who can bring the new ball into the batsman, as he tends to plant his front foot on middle stump and play across the line. The start of his career was not impressive; he was dropped a couple of times but made a comeback probably because of the drought of openers in Pakistan, as well as strong campaigning. Players – presumably with lesser campaigning prowess at their disposal – like Imran Nazir, Rana Naved, and Abdul Razzaq, who are experienced on the international stage and have performed in the past, have not even been considered despite their exceptional performances in domestic T20 tournaments and foreign leagues.

The nation always expects runs from Hafeez but when that doesn’t happen too often, it invariably turns into a desperate hope for a bowling miracle from his side. It is rumoured that he bowls right arm off spin, but I have still to find spin even after constantly looking for it; perhaps that is what confuses some of the batsmen. His recent bowling performance is getting better but, then again, 80 wickets in 100 odd matches is not something we can’t live without. Also he is there mainly as a batsman; and there is a tendency of the batsman-first captain under-bowling himself, especially under pressure. Pakistan has one of the best spin bowling attacks as it is, and with spinners like Ajmal, Afridi and Malik, there is a great probability of that happening.

A captain’s place in the team must be secure no matter how great a tactician he may be. Professor or not, if one doesn’t absolutely own a place in the playing 11, one can’t expect to command respect of one’s charges. This is what made Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Salim Malik such good captains and Inzamam possible. We do great disservice to Imran Khan when we say that we won the world cup because of his captaincy. We won because of his performance as a player as well as his captaincy (plus a nice little fluke that took us to the semi-final). That was the hallmark of his whole career as a captain; nobody could dare ask for his credentials.

I can’t help feeling that our selectors as well as PCB higher-ups take commentators and “pundits” a bit too seriously. How useless these pundits are can be gauged by viewing five minutes of that talk-show on PTV Sports featuring Dr Nauman Niaz (Shoaib Akhtar fame, genital warts and all), Aamer Sohail and Wajahat Khan. I say five minutes because this is all you can endure of pointless exchange of clichés and hyperbole. The only thing that is more irritating than three fakes pretending to sound profound is three fakes pretending to sound profound, while two are constantly staring into a computer screen. When I talk about cricketers lobbying and campaigning, it means their relationship with these pundits. Have you ever heard terms like Mr. Talented for Kohli, Raina and Sharma even though they all are match-winners and can single-handedly turn a game on its head? The crazy propaganda generated for or against certain players by self-proclaimed pundits like these and of course Ramiz Raja – garbage that is apparently taken in by the selectors wholesale – is absolutely destroying what little is left of Pakistan Cricket.

On a positive note, what makes Hafeez’ promotion somewhat bearable is that Misbah the cadaver has finally retired from T20, and that would never have happened had he not been kicked out. This is despite the fact that Misbah playing T20 was like a rickshaw trying to win the Formula 1 competition (his playing ODIs is like a rickshaw trying its luck at the Paris-Dakar Rally). Misbah will soon have to be kicked out of the ODI team as well; leaving on your own accord sadly not being the preferred thing in our part of the world.

The writer is a member of the band Beygairat Brigade.

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14 COMMENTS

  1. I think u r harsh on Misbah. No doubt he is ancient and bloomed late in his three scores and ten…but he should b judged by the results he produced and his personal performance…the highest scorer without a century to his credit. Except for World cup under Afridi that the whole board lost the semi final under orders and the glitter of a lot of money, under a well rehearsed plan u don;t have a thing on Misbah.
    I have no problems with Hafeez either except that he used to do stage shows by taking rabbits out of his gown pockets instead of being a PhD. The clever England shopkeeper had a real professor for well over five decades tho his personal contribution never went into double figures. As long as Gillani had nothing to do with his selection, I don't grudge Hafeez his stroke of good luck.
    I agree with u on talk shows. These anchors and experts r a pain in the neck.

  2. Mr Saeed, the article is a whole load of crap. It didn't make any sense. You are everything but a cricket expert so I would suggest you to do some research before you write anything about cricket. You better look at the Hafeez's performance since his comeback before making hue and cry. It is the recent form that matters and he has been the most consistent performer during the recent past. It is needed to be reminded to you that he won the 'man of the match' award a record 11 times during the last year. So you better avoid writing about the thing you don't have an idea about.. And if you're saying that spinning the ball is all that matters, you should have a look at Kumble's and Afridi's bowling before uttering bullshit about someone. Moreover, he is yet to play his 100th odi for your kind information. The link to his record since his comeback is attached. He averages a handy 37 with a strike rate of 75. Enough to keep the critics quiet. 🙂

  5. Please check ICC rankings..that will explain all..his consistency and how he made us proud in the past two years!..Keep your personal dis-likings away and we as a nation should support this talented player in his new role too!

  7. I think v make a mistake when v think v can evaluate cricket. Umar Quereshi, Jamsheed marker, Iftikhar Ahmed, Chisti Mujahid and Shehzad Hamayun or Tariq Rahim spent their lives just because of acceptable broadcasting voice. Munir Hussain and a few more didn't even have that ability. And about the jokers who who sit on the myriad channels during intervals or end of the day comments, the less said the better. If u have watched the game live, I think they r quite superflous and the channels should think of something else or how about playing the highlights?
    Don't b angry, Ahmad Saleem, KB et al…the author hasn't favoured anybody for the job. He just wrote something he thought about in a humourous sort of way. Strange things have happened in cricket and will continue to happen. Just take it as a sport where every dog has his day and can b a bum on the next.

  8. Very rightly said from A to Z. I wonder how people find him talented. His career is just a pile of poop and a chocolate topping(recent performance or ICC ranking) wont make it any better. You will not find such kind of opener in any other team but we think we are blessed. Its only Pakistan where such a third class player can have place in the playing 11. You don't need to waste time for any research to find the class of Hafeez, a couple of games would serve the purpose. People who gave this crappy cricketer a high rating confirm my worst fears, i.e. Pakistanis no more can differentiate between a fine cricketer and a Hafeez.

  9. The only part that I do not agree on is the word passable for Inzamam…I think he was one of the best, provided the team he had to fight with. Wasim or Imran had Waqar, Wasim, Aqib, Shoaib, Saqlain, Abdul Qadir and Mushtaq Ahmad while what Inzamam had was Sami and media’s (in fact one media group’s favourire) Danish Kaneria. Danish was one of the most problematic figures in Pakistan cricket as he used to take 5 wickets almost every innings but gave away a hundred and sixty runs for them which made it impossible for the captain to win the match and also made it impossible for him to throw this guy out. However, I hope he is past now. But Sami is back in team.

  10. Dear Ali, could not agree more with you, right from technique to leadership quality of Hafeez, although he has earned himself a place in the team being a usefull allrounder, but he needs to improve alot on his batting especially on seaming and bouncywickets since opening pair not only has to put runs but has to set the tone for next batsmen. I am very much surprised as to why BCCP is not taking Imran Nazir in T20 or 50s and test match may be and I also had disagreement with Amir Sohail on imran nazir exclusion from sides. i think imran nazir remains an asset with right skipper to control him. lets not forget that sportsmen especially crickets are born to be wild. the day they lose the animal instint they become commentators and btw, Omer Qureshi, Ifti, chisti or Shahzad humayun are more of english speaking voices, hardly as commentators like Beno, Chappel Ramiz or Ravi. i look forwad to you raising echoes about imran nazir. regards

  13. Misbah has never lost Test series captain and have lost ODI and T20I series only just once. Under him, Pakistan is playing like a unit. Still you are ridiculing Misbah in such a way like he is a culprit. No wonder, after all you are a "Beghairat" Brigade.

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