Five Reasons Why Azhar Ali is the Best Choice as Pakistan's ODI Captain

Five Reasons Why Azhar Ali is the Best Choice as Pakistan’s ODI Captain: With the conclusion of the World Cup, it meant that Misbah-ul-Haq, a great servant of the Pakistan Cricket fraternity, had to retire from ODIs along with Shahid Khan Afridi. With the retirement of the most senior players of Pakistan, a change in ODI leadership was inevitable.

Many faces were in contention, old and new, but the majority wanted a fresh face that could carry the team forward for a longer period. In an earlier piece, five possible captains were mentioned by my colleague but such is the magic and charisma of Pakistan Cricket that Azhar Ali, out of nowhere, not picked by colleague; turned out to be the fresh face PCB was looking for. This decision not only raised eyebrows among the cricket fans of Pakistan but also disappointed many who would have wanted their personal favorite for the leader’s role. A player who last played the format he is now captain of, in 2013. How can he be made the captain?

Good or Worse, Azhar Ali as Captain of the Pakistan’s ODI Team is the best pick PCB would have made and I have reasons to support my theory:

1. Member of the League of Legends

Batting average is what decides the quality and caliber of a batsman; the amount of runs he scores per match. Opposed to everyone’s delight, Azhar Ali is one of only eight batsmen who average 50+ in List-A games (minimum qualification: 100 games). This list includes proven legends like Michael Bevan, MS Dhoni, RG Pollock and Virat Kohli.

2. An exceptionally good ODI record

Azhar Ali has played in 14 ODIs scoring 452 runs including 4 half-centuries and a best of 96 at over 40 runs per innings – this record for someone from a country who is not known for producing better batsmen is really exceptional. In a brief ODI career, Azhar Ali managed a rare feat to carry his bat for entire innings against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka in 2012. Azhar’s average climbs to 50 if we subtract his scores on the India tour (11 runs in 2 games).

3. A Big Innings Player

Azhar Ali has played 109 List-As but batted in only 93 of them. In these 93 innings, he scored 9 centuries and 23 half-centuries; means that he scores a century every 10^th innings and a 50+ score every three innings.

4. Worked Hard on Technique and Strike Rate Issue

Talking about his SR, Yes! His SR “WAS” a concern 2 years ago but recently he has worked on his technique (which clearly looked better if someone had actually seen him in PCB Pentangular Cup 2015). He was the leading run-scorer in the Pentangular Cup with 302 runs at an average of 60.40 and strike rate of 86.28. In the President’s Gold Cup, he scored 234 runs with a strike rate of 86.98. This SR is much better and improved than his career SR which clearly shows that he has done all the homework needed to stay at the international level.

5. Seniority and Respect

Azhar Ali is currently the most senior and respectable player among the current pool of players. Is Young and un-tested. (You can never say a bad son can never turn out a good father). In the longer format, Azhar has proved from time to time he can win us matches with his bat and had the element of ‘X’ needed for captaining Pakistan.

Lastly, if he was as good as I describe, why was he not included in the WC squad? The question should be: Why was he dropped in the first place? In a short ODI career, Azhar Ali averaged better than the man with “Un-Limited Talent” Umar Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez & Ahmed Shehzad. Carried his bat in an innings (a feat rarely achieved by Pakistanis), nearly scored an ODI Hundred and scored a 50+ score every ~4th innings.

The best thing now should be is to look to the future and pray. The decision has been made, you cannot change it! There is o reason to fight over it. We should look on the positive side of this decision. Like many Pakistan supporters, I pray for Azhar Ali to be as successful as all the Pakistanis wanted their next captain to be!