Comment on Shoaib Malik as Pakistan’s 25th captain

Osman Samiuddin19-Apr-2007

Malik has shown authority and skill while at the crease. Will he replicate that at the helm? © AFP
As there might be with a blind date, there is both excitement andtrepidation at the announcement of Shoaib Malik as the 25th man to captainPakistan.At 25, he is still young in years and in that sense, it is a progressiveappointment. Seniority and hierarchy matter in Pakistan, and choosingcaptains is generally a pragmatic decision based on the best ormost-established player in the side, rather than the best leader. Fewrecent captains have been young.The World Cup brought to an end one dark, jaded mini-period, so startingagain, with a new, fresh-faced captain has a good feel about it. SouthAfrica did something similar four years ago, and on balance of where theyare now, probably don’t regret it. Youth will anyway have its day so whynot now?Gauging a leader of men is not simple. Weight of runs, wickets orall-round performances, as Andrew Flintoff and Ian Botham among othersdiscovered, does not a captain make. Something more is needed, somethingnot easily seen, something that is properly visible only after a captaincaptains.That much-loved phrase ‘the best captain that never was’ is actually anempty one; unless a player is or has been one, nobody can ever know howgood a captain he can be. Until Malik leads his men out, makes a bowlingchange, a slight fielding adjustment, a testing declaration, or battlesthrough poor form, through on-field crises, or rallies ten wildlydifferent personalities around him, the jury will be out.That the appointment of the second Malik to captain Pakistan is not asbold as it may initially appear is key. He hasn’t been discussed bythis administration alone as an option, but by the one before it as well.Inzamam-ul-Haq, Wasim Akram and Imran Khan – albeit cautiously – haverepeatedly cited his sharp cricketing brain and selfless attitude as signsof potential leadership, as did Bob Woolmer. You have to think, betweenall of them, they must know something.But, as ever, history tugs at optimism. On the rare occasions Pakistanhave flirted with young captains, especially in a team of seniors, disasterhas been the result. Malik is not as young as were Javed Miandad (22) andJaved Burki (24) when they became captains but is close enough.Both had miserable experiences: Burki oversaw, in a 4-0 loss in England in1962, one of Pakistan’s worst tours in their early years. Miandad, madecaptain in 1980, fell to a revolt by his own players two years and 13Tests later. Wasim Akram was 26 when he first took on the captaincy, yetfive Tests later, his own players had forced him out.Even considerable experience couldn’t save Akram and Miandad. The former’sfirst Test as captain was his 46th overall, while the latter’s was his28th Test. Crucially, both were established players already.Malik’s first Test as captain will only be his 19th (over five years).Though lately, he has become a regular of sorts, nobody would argue thathe is an established indispensable, as he is in the shorter form of thegame. And in neither form of the game do we know his ideal position in theorder. Captaincy can make a player or break him and Malik is no exception.As with Akram and Miandad, there is also a fear that senior players – anominous phrase only in this context – might not take so readily to Malik.Intikhab Alam voiced these very concerns and the signs are alreadypresent; when asked publicly, a number of players said they were willingto accept the captaincy offered. Privately, many are believed tohave it to be offered to them. Will they be entirely happywith a younger, less established player in charge?How he handles his men off the field, in the dressing rooms and in hotels,may well be the key to what happens on the field. It initially escaped menof Akram and Miandad’s stature, though both came back to become two of themost successful captains Pakistan had.There is not much that Malik has not done on a cricket field. He hasremarkable adaptability; Test opener one day to middle-order battler next;one-down ODI organiser today, lower-order slogger tomorrow; he has beenre-invented many times. Most of it he has done with minimum fuss and dueefficiency, some of it outstandingly well. He now has another role tofill. It is, by a country mile, the most challenging one yet.