Or is it going, going, gone?
Cricket journalism in Pakistan is a weird phenomenon. It is quite human to have contrasting opinions. But in this part of the world, Cricket journalist find themselves the possessors of self-assumed nobility. For instance, when Afridi played a brilliant knock in PSL, after the match he announced that he was retiring from International Cricket. I discussed it with a person next to me in Sharjah press box. His response was, “It all comes down to media. If media want him back in green, he’d be there in a blink.”
Not to mention that he was the “media” he referred to.
Ahead of a long tour spanning three Tests and five ODIs, Pakistani cricketers were in Australia. Misbah was in Pakistan. He was to join them later. Before his departure, in an interview with Umar Farooq from Cricinfo, Misbah was caught desperate and a little angry over the current series of events. It looked like he was done with the PCB’s mindset and the line it was toeing.
Azhar Ali was appointed as a successor to Misbah in ODIs after World Cup 2015. He was purely Misbah’s choice. They say Misbah wanted Azhar be included in World Cup squad too but the selectors were not convinced enough. So when he was assigned the role on Misbah’s recommendation, he was doomed to receive what Misbah had been getting for five long years.
Misbah was the only Pakistani star to have survived a media trial that went on for almost a decade. Azhar couldn’t last that long.
When Pakistan lost four of their five ODIs against England, chairman PCB asked Azhar to resign. There was also a guarantee included that he wouldn’t be excluded from the ODI squad if he tendered a resignation. Azhar, in response, stood firm and declined the offer. He knew he had a home series at hand against West-Indies – and he whitewashed WI.
The debate should’ve been over.
But it just strengthened.
A couple of days before Pakistan’s first game against the Aussies, the Chairman PCB showed up once again and told us that Azhar wasn’t the captain Pakistan needed. In the background, there had been a continuous streaming of ruthless criticism over Azhar’s job ever since he took charge. The plot thickened when Pakistan ended up on the losing side in Tests as well as ODIs.
We can ignore the fact that Sarfraz, the next boy prodigy of the media, had to skip the ODI series because of family business. We can also overlook the truth that he had a desperate run against Aussies in the Test fixtures. And we should not remember that he had been terrible there, with the gloves too.
Azhar’s spot in the ODI side was so fragile that when he had to sit out of two ODIs following an injury the media started shouting out for Hafeez, the stand-in captain. We knew they wanted Sarfraz at the helm. More than that: they were desperate for Azhar’s exclusion. No matter how well he batted against all the odds, they knew he shouldn’t lead Pakistan.
For he was Misbah’s choice.
At a dinner table in Lahore, I asked Misbah about his views on the hot topic. As plain and simple as he is himself, his reply was: “That’s not even a debate. Look at the upcoming World Cup and rethink your choices.” What he conveyed between the lines should read, “For Pakistan, it’s not just the captaincy. The real problems lie somewhere else.”
A couple of weeks later, the most viewed news channel in Pakistan held a special transmission called “Taakra”. With Wasim, Ramiz, Aqib and Akhtar on the panel, the debate concluded on replacing Azhar with Sarfraz. In their expert opinion, this change would start yielding goods for Pakistan.
It wasn’t about Azhar or Sarfraz.
It was all for the ideological identity that Pakistani cricket keeps searching for.
In less than a week, Azhar resigned. Sarfraz was appointed. Both announcements were just matters of formality for we knew eventually it had to happen.
With Pakistan against the Caribbean’s, a lot more than Cricket is at stake. Seven of the ten games they play there are to be led by Sarfraz. Had Misbah not opted to go, it’d all be the lion’s share. For now, Sarfraz only has to prove his efficacy in shorter forms of the game.
Can he do it?
Visiting the Caribbean’s has never been a picnic for Pakistan. Apart from Australia, this is the only place where we are are yet to win a Test series. Knowing what the Pakistani team has pulled off under Misbah, the fact that even Misbah hasn’t succeeded in that should come as a surprise.
But that’s not what Sarfraz has to deal with. His job is to validate all his supporters that have been campaigning for his captaincy over the last two years. He has to prove that he has got a good pick of a side.
He has to ensure that Pakistan doesn’t slip in the rankings and keeps its berth for World Cup 2019.
How practical is all that?
While Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Australia and WI have got some fruits – courtesy young talent – Pakistan is also looking forward for the same. It’s gotten a good pool from PSL. PCB thinks they are good to go with it. They have compromised on Azhar too, their most reliable performer with a bat in all conditions.
The onus is on Sarfraz now.
Bangladesh got their results, for Mortaza led them. So did Sri Lanka under Matthews. Same for Smith’s Australia and Morgan’s England. But there is something that could trouble Sarfraz.
Sarfraz comes in here not just as a makeshift arrangement to reverse the odds – his arrival is more of an onset, a new ideology. From Misbah inspired and Azhar led conservatism to Sarfraz’s aggression, this has been a leap of faith for Pakistan. They believe they could’ve done better had they opted for aggression like Sarfraz’s rather than the calculated calmness of Misbah and Azhar. And their coach Mickey Arthur believes the same.
While we know that Sarfraz has a fondness for accelerating things with the bat, we also must not forget that he has an overwhelming tendency of losing his nerves under pressure. Similarly, Arthur might have coached big teams like Australia and South Africa in the past but now that he is coaching a weak side, he often crumbles under pressure. We’ve often seen both of them going crazy when the shit hits the fan.
While this young Pakistani side could be more than capable with bat and ball, the international arena asks for more than just game skills.
With all the new talent in place, both Sarfraz and Arthur have to fill in for the mental strength required to behave like a team out there. Add to it the stakes such as a direct spot for the World Cup, and there would be a tremendous amount of pressure.
Because this new WI side is not like the one we met in UAE months ago. Nor is the new set-up at WICB anything like that post-Sammy and post-Simmons era.
Can they stand it in unison?
We’ll have to watch for it.