Interesting article Mr Hutt.
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Originally Posted by Mr Hutt The series with new Captain Shoaib Malik at the helm against Sri lanka turned out to be a rather tame affair with most of the top Lankan players opting out after such a hectic world cup. Yes Pakistan did win but there was no thrill in it |
To be honest, I thought it was a reasonably interesting series, and we learnt a lot about the new Pakistan from it. Also, I disagree there was no 'thrill' - the atmosphere at the ground was electric and much better than most of the World Cup games! Sri Lanka were resting three players (Murali, Vaas and Sanga); but Pakistan were also without two key members of the team: Akhtar and Younis. It was thus a fairly even contest and Malik's team did well to win so convincingly.
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Inzimam has all but faded into mediocrity,
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Not really. He still remains a widely respected former captain in Pakistan, one who is trusted by almost all the current players, is well-regarded in the media and looked upon as an 'elder statesman' of the game. Not bad at all! And in fact, much better than the position guys like Wasim, Waqar and Saeed were in similar stages of their respective retirements.
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Among them were Australian bowler Lawson, Tim Boon and surprise surprise Dav Whatmore
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I thought it was Lawson, Whatmore and Richard Done - that's what all the various official press releases etc said.
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You see we all think who in the world would want to coach Pakistan,
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As you say, many top international coaches do. There were applications from experienced coaches/former players from Australia, England and the West Indies. And that was before the whole Woolmer "story" turned out to be a complete non-story.
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Moyo although a terrific batsmen is not going to be here in say 8 years, so what is the point of him being captain?
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Interesting logic. I don't think many captains internationally are going to be around for 8 years, except maybe Graeme Smith - should they all make way for kids who are wet behind the years? I like Malik, think he is a good choice - but Yousuf would have been a good choice too. The Pakistani obsession with building for the next World Cup is nonsense - the team needs to be competitive over a period of time, not focus its entire being on one small tournament every four years!
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We cannot dream of achieving success like Australia without laying the ground base first. This cannot be achieved in 2 years.
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Agree - but here the role of the board, the academy and the coached is paramount. I think the captain has a very limited role to play in fostering long-term success in Pakistan.