LAHORE: When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. A good captain is an embodiment of composure, courage and consistency. He is composed in pressure situations, walks the walk in adversity, keeps the critiques at bay and enjoys credibility by being consistent.
Captain of any cricket team can respect command only if he performs well. He can only inspire the players by leading from the front. As they say, “If you preach perfection but you walk mediocrity, you are nothing but a liar”.
With intense media scrutiny and fierce criticism lurking to catch any slipup in international cricket, it is tough for a player to emerge as a captain without a strong track record as a high-level performer. If captains do not deliver personally, their leadership qualities are soon grilled and challenged.
When Sarfraz faltered at the crease, questions about his technique, decisions at crunch moments and the ability to galvanize the team followed. In cricket, personal clinkers mercilessly expose the player and trigger the demise of a captain.
In the era when technology reigns supreme, statistics speak louder than statements, leadership traits take the back burner and performance becomes a touchstone that substantiates each decision by the captain. Shortcomings are generally concealed by the performance that you exhibit in the middle.
Captain has to be the best player of the team. That’s the reason Steve Smith, Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli have been the most competent leaders of contemporary cricket.
Great captain tends to amplify their game sooner they are entrained on captaincy. Captaincy should bring the best out of the player. To sum it up Kohli’s average as a captain is 62 and 41 as a regular bat, Steve smith’s average as a captain is gigantic 70 and 51 as a regular trouper, Kane Williamson outperformed when given the reigns, with average 57 as appose to 49 without it. Diving deep into the memory lane, Imran Khan arguably the best captain of all times had a brilliant average of 52 as a captain and 25 as a regular all-rounder. Sir Gary Sobers, Steve Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Mike Brearley also elevated their game with the additional role of captaincy. Keeper captains such as Sangakkara and Dhoni, where the formerly maintained average of massive 69 as opposed to 55 as a regular keeper batsman, whereas Dhoni had 40 in contrast with 33 as a regular player. Sarfraz on other hand has pitiable stats with average deteriorating to 25 as a captain from as a regular keeper batsman at 41. This suggests how some players feel burdened with the extra role of captaincy.
The management also must try to address the fact that which player suits well with what format of cricket. Sarfraz can be assigned captaincy in the shorter format of the game i.e ODI and T20. Test cricket is still a much demanding and nerve-wracking form of cricket which truly tests all cords of the instrument.
Babar Azam seems to have ingredients to captain the ship in test cricket as early as this part of his career. He is composed and collected and has the best technique and confidence to spearhead against all.
Azhar Ali can also be given test captaincy forthwith, he is currently the best test batsman of Pakistan cricket team after the departure of Misbah and Younis. Sarfraz can continue to lead ODIs and T20 team as his game commensurate with the need of the format.
A captain must contain 3 Cs: Composure, Courage and Consistency, that give life to the 4th and 5th Cs i.e credibility of captain and chemistry among team members. Our captain currently lacks all the 5 Cs.
A captain is developed over time, don’t expect him to yield fruits immediately, repose full confidence and leaders are bound to learn new traits and destined to flourish. Above all, consistency will always remain the key for a captain to justify every decision he takes.
Written by Fahd Saud Bajwa