“A captain is only as good as his team!”
You must have heard this quote before and it stands true every time. Have you ever seen an average team with a good captain doing wonders? No. It is simply not possible.
A captain’s role is often overrated in modern-day cricket. With so much technology, a dozen coaches and stat-driven analysis at the helm for every team, there are very rare instances when a captain takes a decision on his gut feeling.
For example, you must have noticed people bringing on leg spinners or left-arm spinners in the attack as soon as Virat Kohli comes to bat. Why? It is because Virat’s record against the away-going ball has been a bit poor in recent times.
So, a captain bringing the left-arm spinner or leggie isn’t doing it himself but it’s what the data analysts have suggested to him. The point here is most of decisions in cricket these days are influenced by data.
So, then why is Babar Azam being trolled so much for Pakistan team’s failure in the ongoing World Cup? It is true that Babar hasn’t been as good as the likes of MS Dhoni, Ricky Ponting and several other top captains. Most of the captains are average. It is only once in a while teams have a captain who thinks out of the box.
Pakistan has a poor squad and Babar can’t make them look magical no matter what he does on or off the field. He throws ball to spinners who bowl half-volleys or half-trackers. He throws ball to the pacers who bowl wayward. How is he going to do anything about it? Should he be himself rolling the arm?
Now, had he performed badly with the bat, the questions on his captaincy might have been valid. But he has performed well in most of the matches. Maybe not to his best but not the worst either.
All this trolling seems to be baseless. It is just that Pakistan fans are finding an easy target in Babar. The former Pakistan cricketers are only making it worse by bringing Babar into every critical conversation about the team.
Dear Pakistan fans, it is understandable that you are heartbroken right now but even if you have to show anger, don’t put it all on one man. It is the whole team, including coaches and management, that is responsible for Pakistan’s nightmare performance in the World Cup and not just Babar Azam.