World Cup 2019: Sarfaraz Ahmed is an accidental captain, says Aaqib Javed

Pakistan losing to India by 89 runs in the ongoing World Cup hasn’t gone down well with the fans and the former cricketers in the country. No wonder, there is severe criticism back home for the Men in Green. They aren’t in a great position in the mega event having won only one match out of five. Moreover, there have been reports of groups being formed in the team which have collectively played a role down in letting down the captain Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The former Pakistan cricketer Aaqib Javed has also joined the bandwagon and has come down hard at Sarfaraz. He felt that the captain has failed to stamp his authority on and off the field. Javed also questioned the move of making him the skipper of the team back in 2015 and termed the 32-year-old as the accidental captain.

“Sarfaraz is very, very weak, cannot show his authority on the field and off it as well. He cannot assert himself in front of even Inzamam (who is chief selector). Since 2015, Sarfaraz has been struggling for his place in the team. He became a captain by accident as the boards make changes after every World Cup. Since the 2017 Champions Trophy final, Pakistan have done nothing,” Aaqib Javed was quoted as saying by Mumbai Mirror.

India have gone far ahead

Aaqib Javed, the man who played 163 ODIs and 22 Tests for Pakistan, also compared the country’s golden cricketing era with the current one and accused the team of being in the defensive mindset. He even went on to say that Pakistan can now not even imagine beating India as the Men in Blue have improved a lot compared to the 1990s.

“That was a different era. The mindset of the Indian team of that era was what the Pakistan team is having now, a defensive mindset. It was not a winning mindset. India have gone far ahead of Pakistan in terms of batting, bowling, and fielding… there is no match between the sides. Basically, there is a huge gulf between the skill sets of the India and Pakistan teams,” he further added.