Azhar Ali as captain not giving confidence, says PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are having their reservations about the captaincy of Azhar Ali. He is the limited over in charge of the team and takes the captaincy hat in Tests in absence of Misbah Ul Haq. He was appointed as the captain of the national side after the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. Although his personal performances have been ominous, the team results are far from being impressive.

Under his captaincy, the team has slumped to an all time low of 9th rank in the ODI rankings. When Englan drubbed Pakistan 4-1 earlier this year, PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan asked Azhar Ali to step down as the captain. Ali, however, refused to resign. Shaharyar Khan has now said that they still have their doubts about continuing with him as the captain.

“We are more than happy with Azhar as a player, human being and a person. But his leadership skills have not given us confidence and his place in ODI side is on shaky ground. It is also a fact that we had left it up to him to step down as captain during the England series but after a collective decision we decided to allow him to carry on for the West Indies series,” Khan quoted in a conversation with ESPNcricinfo recently.

Azhar Ali had a good ‘home’ series against West Indies though. Pakistan whitewashed West Indies 3-0. Despite the result, the PCB are unsure about his stay at the position. “It’s really tough to make a decision after a captain won it by 3-0, but still I believe it’s purely Azhar’s own decision to let it go and but he earlier refused to relinquish his captaincy,” he added.

When asked about who could lead the side in ODIs, Shaharyar Khan hinted at the name of T20I skipper Sarfraz Ahmed. He also remarked that they are keen on having one captain for all the three formats of the game.

“Sarfaraz is a strong option because we might even consider him for all three formats as captain. In our culture, it is always best to have one captain for all three formats in Pakistan cricket and historically it works for us. We don’t like to force anyone to take decisions we don’t work like that. And we would like to see a senior player go out with honor and respect,” said the PCB Chairman.

He also had a word to share about the Test skipper Misbah Ul Haq. Misbah looks good and fit to play at the high age of 42. The PCB chairman said that the future of Misbah depends on how the Australia series fares up. Moreover, the choice to retire will solely be Misbah’s.

“Misbah is a top-class captain and performer and has led the side well. Even at 42, he is super fit and I told him recently it was his decision when to retire. But we have also made our mind on possible back-ups if the tour does not go well,” he conceded.