Daily Times

LAHORE: Azhar Ali stepped down as Pakistan’s one-day captain on Thursday with wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who is the T20I captain, elevated to the post. Following the national team’s dismal tour Down Under, speculation was mounting about the future of Azhar’s captaincy. The former world champions rank lowly eighth in one-dayers following the team’s comprehensive 4-1 defeat in Australia last month. “Azhar agreed to relinquish his captaincy as he believed that his batting is being affected due to extra burden of leadership,” a PCB spokesman said. “We respect his decision and he will continue to play as batsman in one-day team, but now we have all decided that Sarfraz will be leading the ODI outfit,” the spokesman added.

Azhar, however, is set to miss Pakistan’s next ODI because of a one-match suspension for a slow over rate during the tour of Australia. Pakistan’s leadership issues in one-day cricket had been discussed in January at a meeting attended by Shaharyar Khan, chief selector Inzamamul Haq, and Mushtaq Ahmed, the head coach at the National Cricket Academy. They were thought to be united in their belief that Sarfraz should take over the ODI captaincy but were going to wait until Misbahul Haq retired to name a new Test captain. Under Azhar’s leadership, Pakistan’s slipped to a record-low ninth in the ODI rankings. They rose one place since, to at least be in the running for direct qualification to the 2019 World Cup, and scraped into this year’s Champions Trophy – which features the top-eight teams.

Pakistan won only five out of ten bilateral series under Azhar, two of them against Zimbabwe, and one each against Ireland, Sri Lanka and West Indies. In all, Pakistan won 12 and lost 18 games under him. The PCB had been thinking of removing Azhar for some time as well. In September last year, following a 4-1 loss in England, Shaharyar had asked Azhar to consider stepping down. Azhar decided to stay on, however, and led Pakistan to a 3-0 whitewash of West Indies in the UAE. That win left the PCB no choice but to retain him for the Australia tour. A day before the first Test in Brisbane, however, Shaharyar again raised concerns, telling media that Azhar’s place in the ODI side was on shaky ground and that they were considering replacing him.