Current Test Captains #6: Pakistan

This is an interesting case.  No country has chopped and changed its captains as frequently as Pakistan (even giants like Imran and Javed were trading the office every few years). The most recent roundabout included spells for Younis Ahmed (who then said no thanks), Shahid Afridi (1 test, then retirement), and Salman Butt (3 tests, then jail).  The wreckage of Pakistan's 2010 tour of England lead to the inspired call for Misbah-ul-Haq, not as the last man standing, but at the best man standing elsewhere.  He has served now for more than 3 years, missing only one game when Mohammad Hafeez stepped in.  Misbah has proved a revealation in the role, bringing stability to the office even as his age and technique are criticized. But the reality is he is almost 40 years old, and with Pakistan not scheduled to play any test cricket for another 9 months, the end cannot be far off.

The search for next captain of Pakistan will be closely watched. Mohammad Hafeez had the inside running, as test vice-captain and ODI captain, but he has fallen out of form and favor.  Promoting him now, when his place in the team is under question, is hardly the right way to start out, unless you actually want the captaincy merry-go-round to start again.  Its not ideal to be recalled to the team and instantly into the captaincy but some of the other experienced players in the team also have had form fluctuations so its hard to predict who might or might not get the next call.

Former captain Younis Ahmed is still in the team but at age 36 unlikely to want the job he has twice previously given up back now for his twilight years.  The next most senior player is Umar Gul but his recent spell of injury means he is also unlikely to be elevated either.  At various times any one of the Akmal brothers might be considered, but Umar, Kamran and Adnan all got chopped and changed as players, with  -- other than Adnan -- whispers of involvement in the scandals of the past. 
So with reasons to eliminate virtually every senior player, who does that leave?  The only players who seem certain of their places on the team sheet are Saeed Ajmal and Azhar Ali.  Ajmal might be a long shot, but he has no captaincy experience, and at age 36 his last days are coming too.  Azhar had a long run in the team and if I had written this a year ago I would have been confident in picking him as the next captain.  But he had a loss of form, and then got dropped.  He came back only for Pakistan's last game, in which he scared a 100 to help beat Sri Lanka, making suddenly everything OK with him again.  This is where the nine month break really hurts Pakistan:  if Azhar had a couple of series to re-imbed his place, then Misbah could transition out.  Absent games, the change could be sudden and therefore the choice unpredictable.

Is there anyone else from outside the team?  If Hafeez is not picked, Pakistan has no allrounder in its test team.  There'd be an outside argument for Shoaib Malik (age 32) to return almost four years after that last disastrous tour to England; and he's even done the job before, way back in 2007-08 amidst another period of in-fighting.   You can't say the same for Shahid Afridi (age 34, and having retired from the first-class game, while continuing to play limited overs matches).  Others outside the team who are captaining domestic games are Imran Farhat (age almost 32), and Kamran Akmal (age 32, and once the test vice-captain). I can make an outside argument for Farhat if he can find a rich run of form in the domestic circuit, but surely Akmal's game, record and baggage are enough to eliminate him from getting back to the test team?

A young player with captaincy experience is Khalid Latif; he hasn't had even a one-day game for Pakistan since 2010.   Mohammad Ayub (1 test cap) and Sarfraz Ahmed (getting some tests now Adnan Akmal is injured) are also captaining domestic teams, but both are as unlikely to get promoted as say Imran Nazir (age 32 and now 11 years removed from his last test) is to be recalled.  The list of contenders is awfully thin.

So all we know for sure is that Misbah will retire one day soon.   If Misbah can last just one more year in the test side, I'd pick Azhar Ali as the next captain.  If he doesn't, it could be literally anyone, but the chances are it's Hafeez until he no longer justifies his place in the team.