Cow Corner: Inzi or Younis Khan?

Heart or head asked Osman Samiuddin? A bit of both perhaps. In the heart, I'm a big fan of Inzamam. I can't perceive how any one cannot be. I adore the man, his batting, his understated, often cheeky sense of humor and laid back personality. I absolutely adore him for all this. But that kept aside, I do have some reservations, pretty serious ones at that, about his leadership style.

It isn't that Inzi doesn't have any leadership qualities at all, but the truly great leaders, in any sport, or indeed any facet of life, don't flock by the dozens. They're like eagles - you have to find them one at a time. While Inzi's leadership style fulfils the requirement of a captain leading from the front (if you ignore his fielding, and I know this is tough, but just hypothetically speaking lets do it for a while), there is not much more he can to do inspire others than become, as Osman points out, the 3rd most successful batsman as captain, behind Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting.

Then there is also his "calming influence", which one might argue has helped other players, players who were previously under performing, to stand tall at their heights. Shoaib Malik, the man who made his first test ton only last Thursday, for once has matured spectacularly under Inzi, I'm sure, if you ask Shoaib, he'll give his captain some credit in his rejuvenation into a top-order batting all rounder. Then there's also Shahid Afridi, who is on record saying his improved consistency off late is in no small part down to the confidence Inzi has in him and his abilities. I could well go and prove that almost each and every member of the team from Shoaib Akhtar to Mohammad Yousuf to his deputy Younis Khan him self and even the likes of Kamran Akmal have benefited from Inzi's leadership style, the same style that at times leads even the most die hard of Inzi fans like me to become some what skeptical.

After all, no one can possibly deny that there are serious questions marks over his tactical awareness, his blunders some times have cost Pakistan matches (in ODIs at least) and at other times nearly cost us matches, like against NZ in Wellington three years ago, where he decided against getting the extra half and hour on the fourth day to get the handful of runs we needed for victory, and instead delayed the inevitable to the fifth day for which thunderstorms were forecasted. Fortunately the rain kept at bay for just long enough to save him from complete embarrassment, but it was a shocking decision all the same, if nothing, given all the time Inzi has spent in the international circuit.

In recent times Inzi has also shown a peculiar reluctance to go for the kill when his fast bowlers have done well with the new ball and have had the opposition half side down by the 25 over mark in ODIs or by lunch on the first morning if it was a test. On countless such occasions Inzi has allowed oppositions to come back in to the game by bringing in the spinners and making them bowl their full quota of overs, many times entire 10 overs on the trot. This, regardless of the fact that the far more threatening proposition of pace bowlers have overs left up their belt or that the spinners them selves are not bowling all that well. In such times Inzi has shown a disturbingly frequent tendency to get complacent and allow the pressure to ease off his oppositions.

While it may not have cost Pakistan seriously so far (one series loss against India is so far his only major bad result), it can be argued, with all justification, that Pakistan will be unlikely to get away with such mistakes come a tournament like the World Cup, where you'd expect quite a few winner takes it all games. I have been relentless in my criticism of Inzi's absent mindedness in this respect. Yet despite all that, when I think about it, I find it impossible so see how Pakistan could have been the team it is now without him being at the helm. He remains far and way our best batsman. Since taking over as captain, his form has improved - not merely in the amount of runs he's scored, but the consistency. Inzi now actually looks in form pretty much all the time and rarely does he get out at least without making a start.

I don't know if he would have played this well if he was not captain, and given the form he had in his last few pre captaincy games (the 2003 World Cup namely). I frankly don't even want to think about it, it's far too scary a proposition. And it's also fairly safe to assume that had it not been of all the runs he had scored in recent times, regardless of who might have been in charge, Pakistan would not have been setting pretty at third spot in the rankings.

A change of captaincy now, with the World Cup less then 12 months away, will bring with it self some instability. Sure Younis Khan has been vice captain for fairly substantial period by now, and that you ought to expect the transition from vice captaincy to full time captaincy to be smooth. But you can only hope this will be the case. You can't be sure, especially given Younis is a bolder leader then Inzi, and might want to make changes, either in the team itself or the way various members go about doing their duties - changes that other team members might not be comfortable with, or might at least need time to get accustomed to. Not a scenario you'd want ideally in the lead up to a World Cup.

More important than this issue is how Inzi will take a potential sacking from the job? What if he takes it personally and prematurely quits from the game because of it? Would it not be a shame if Pakistan Cricket can't even repay back one of its most faithful servants by giving him a graceful exit from the international stage? Perhaps if this line of argument is too self centered for every ones liking, we should ask if indeed Pakistan could cope with an Inzi-less side at the World Cup? Do we seriously think our batting on a whole is good enough to cope without him? Are we ready for a batting order without him? Who will fill in his batting boots? Can we fully trust Younis Khan, with his less than impressive ODI record? I'm not sure. As much as I rate Younis Khan's captaincy, it can be argued he has a long way to go before he can convince others apart from his number one fan Imran Khan with his batting at the ODI level, and that too, away from home, and against teams other then India.

And if I was to get unsympathetic, I could well say that about every other Pakistani batsman barring Inzi, and perhaps Kamran Akmal, who has shown in his brief career so far a very positive capability of being able to score runs in different conditions. As classy as Mohammad Yousuf is his away record too, particularly in places like South Africa (which in case you don't know is standby World Cup venue in case things go wrong in West Indies) is fairly average. Generally speaking not many of the Pakistani batsmen are that reliable away from home.

If there is anyone you can count on in this respect, it is Inzi. This is not healthy but remains the bare fact.. I still am not convinced, despite our improvements that we can cope with an Inzi-less batting order. Not now at least. Not at the World Cup at least. Hopefully beyond that we can and we will learn some way or the other. I understand we've got to get used to the idea of an Inzi-less side at some point, given the inevitability of his retirement. However, I am not convinced we should take all these risks just before a World Cup.

Even if we assume a sacking will not make him quit, we can't be sure of the affect it will have on him. What if his form dips dramatically after losing captaincy? Can Pakistan cope with an out of form Inzi in their side in the World Cup? If the evidence from the last World Cup, and Pakistan's recent ODI losses is any evidence, the answer would be no. Then there is also the problem of having a previous captain in the side. Pakistan knows from past experience better then most how this scenario can affect a team's unity and spirit.

One of the very reasons why Pakistan has been able to do well under Inzi has been the total lack of any diving factors within the team. What is to say we won't have a repeat of the Wasim/Waqar/Saeed/Rashid/Moin lobby we had in some of our teams in the late 90s? Nothing has been more pleasing about Inzi's side then its ability to play as a team, as a unit, all for one and one for all. I can't help but feel that with Younis Khan in charge and Inzi in the same team this team unity might possibly be compromised. May be I'm getting too worried, but I'm a great believer in gut feeling, and in this respect the gut feeling simply isn't there. I think eventually it should be a matter of weighing the pros against the cons, as opposed to head against the heart. And some how I'm convinced Inzi being in charge at least till the World Cup ought to have greater good then bad affects.