{"id":29690,"date":"2025-12-01T15:04:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=29690"},"modified":"2025-12-01T15:04:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:04:37","slug":"who-should-be-captain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=29690","title":{"rendered":"Who Should Be Captain?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\u201cAlright, you tell me \u2014 who should be made captain in T20s?\u201d asked a person connected to Pakistan cricket during a friendly discussion with me.
\nWithout hesitation, I replied, \u201cShaheen Shah Afridi.\u201d
\nHe responded, \u201cThe World Cup is so close now. If a change is made at this stage and, God forbid, the team doesn\u2019t perform well, then you people will say \u2018bring a new captain.\u2019 That\u2019s not a solution. Constant changes cause more harm than good.\u201d
\nHearing this, I said, \u201cSalman Ali Agha is a nice, decent guy \u2014 that\u2019s why he suits the board. That\u2019s why he was given the captaincy. You can\u2019t make Shaheen take \u2018favorable decisions.\u2019\u201d
\nSmiling, he said, \u201cYou\u2019re right that Salman is a straightforward person. He doesn\u2019t get involved in groupings and listens to the board. But remember, he became captain based on his cricketing skills \u2014 these are just additional qualities. Shaheen is also a good guy; if the PCB tells him something, do you think he would refuse? Actually, Salman has been given the role with the future in mind. Shaheen is already the ODI captain; if the officials didn\u2019t like him, why would they give him that responsibility either? I know you won\u2019t be convinced, but I\u2019m telling you the truth.\u201d
\nI replied, \u201cI know what\u2019s going on in your minds. Salman\u2019s own performance isn\u2019t great; he\u2019s been made captain because it\u2019ll be easier to replace him later. Shadab Khan is fit again, and Mike Hesson wants to make him captain \u2014 they\u2019ve worked together for years at Islamabad United.\u201d
\nTo this, I got the response, \u201cThose are social media-type theories. It doesn\u2019t suit you to repeat them. Tell me one thing \u2014 is Hesson\u2019s job guaranteed unless the team wins? Why would he prioritize personal preferences? Yes, he\u2019s friendly with Shadab, but it\u2019s not that simple to make him captain directly upon return from injury. Remember, when Shadab was fit, he still played as vice-captain under Salman. They have good chemistry. Such a setup could continue when he returns. Anyway, we\u2019ll talk later \u2014 okay, bye.\u201d
\nAfter all this, it seems to me that Salman Ali Agha will be the captain for the World Cup. But with Pakistan cricket, nothing is ever certain \u2014 anything can happen. Until an official announcement is made, uncertainty will remain. Salman has performed well in Tests and ODIs, but his T20 performance hasn\u2019t been extraordinary, which is why his place in the team is often questioned. However, in the recent triangular series, he seemed determined and even played a good innings against Sri Lanka.
\nA former great captain once told me something very insightful: \u201cFirst select your best eleven players \u2014 then pick a captain from among them. If you bring in someone from outside that eleven, it means you\u2019re compromising for other reasons.\u201d
\nOur cricket \u201csuperstars\u201d have also betrayed one another. Some former players broke relationships just to break \u201cplayers\u2019 power.\u201d There was a time when even thinking about removing a captain was forbidden; later, the same friends started hiding things from each other to gain the captaincy.
\nIt\u2019s true that there\u2019s no \u201cplayers\u2019 power\u201d anymore, but if we compare the teams of that era with today\u2019s, there\u2019s a big difference. Babar Azam, once feared by bowlers, now lacks co confidence and consistency. When the team is chasing a big total in T20s, he seems visibly tense. If he hadn\u2019t been entangled in the captaincy issue, would it have been the same?
\nShaheen, on the other hand, will probably always feel that the very friends for whom he was ready to stand up to the board were the ones who \u201cbetrayed\u201d him. The British introduced the policy of \u201cdivide and rule,\u201d and it\u2019s still being used in every field today.
\nLooking at all this, it seems that Salman Ali Agha is currently the best candidate for captaincy. He hasn\u2019t been part of any group, his own place in the team isn\u2019t always secure \u2014 so he\u2019s likely to remain under the board\u2019s control. The good thing is that under his captaincy, the team has started producing positive results recently, both in events and bilateral series.
\nThe real question, however, is whether he can perform well in a high-pressure tournament like the World Cup. Maybe that\u2019s what\u2019s going through the officials\u2019 minds \u2014 which is why there\u2019s still no announcement. But time is running out; a decision will have to be made soon.
\nLet\u2019s see what happens.
\nBy the way, what do you think \u2014 should Salman remain captain, or should the responsibility go to Shadab or Shaheen instead? Don\u2019t forget to share your opinion.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAlright, you tell me \u2014 who should be made captain in T20s?\u201d asked a person connected to Pakistan cricket during a friendly discussion with me. Without hesitation, I replied, \u201cShaheen Shah Afridi.\u201d He responded, \u201cThe World Cup is so close now. If a change is made at this stage and, God forbid, the team doesn\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29690"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29690\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}