Former Pakistan head-coach Waqar Younis says Sarfraz Ahmed’s appointment as the new Twenty20 skipper will not trigger a dramatic turnaround and has urged the stakeholders to give the wicketkeeper time to establish himself as a leader.
Waqar resigned from the helm of the Pakistan team management on April 4 following Pakistan’s exit from the 2016 World T20 and was followed by Shahid Afridi's decision to step down as captain.
Sarfraz was named the T20 captain by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) soon after.
“Now Pakistan have named Sarfraz Ahmed as captain for T20s. Don't expect that he will come and perform miracles,” said Waqar in an interview with ESPNCricinfo.
"Captaincy adds a lot of pressure. We need to allow him time to settle,” he added.
Waqar, 44, in his two coaching stints 2010 to 2011 and 2014 to 2016, worked with four different captains, namely Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq and Azhar Ali.
The former fast bowler rated the current Pakistan Test skipper Misbah as the best of the lot and praised his ability as a captain.
“My relationship with Misbah was excellent, because he has a great temperament for cricket,” said Waqar.
“When you sit with him, he can talk about cricket for hours.
“I think when you are a captain, you need to absorb a lot of things from the coach,” Waqar added.
Waqar revealed that he also considered former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt as a solid contender to lead the national side for a long time, had the left-hander not indulged in the famous spot-fixing scandal that shook Pakistan cricket in 2010.
“I also had a great relationship with Salman Butt and if that unfortunate [spot-fixing in 2010] situation had not happened, perhaps neither Misbah nor Afridi would have been captains,” he said.
Waqar, who picked 373 Test wickets for Pakistan, on the other hand, maintained his views on Afridi.
“Shahid Afridi's drawbacks as a captain are for everyone to see. He's got a temperament issue,” he said.
“He cannot sit for too long to highlight things or absorb things and then go and implement them.
“Misbah, on the other hand, is a more settled person. He absorbs things, makes plans and executes them - this is what you do as captain.”
