Misbah should be Pak World Cup captain: Sikander Bakht

KARACHI - Former Test cricketer Sikander Bakht has said that current Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq should captain the World Cup side instead of Shahid Afridi.

Bakht has joined Zaheer Abass, Aamir Sohail and Sarfraz Nawaz in criticizing all-rounder Afridi’s captaincy.

Talking to German Radio Deutsche Welle Urdu Service on Tuesday, Bakht said a captain always lead from the front, but Afridi had not been performing well since taking over as captain of the Pakistan’s ODI and T20 teams.

“As a player he won the T20 World Cup for the country single-handedly in England. But after that the captaincy has affected his individual performance and that’s why Afridi should not be the captain any more.”

Under Afridi, Pakistan have lost World T20, Asia Cup and ODIs and T20s against England, South Africa and New Zealand.

Afridi, who plays more as a bowling all-rounder, has only managed to take 19 expensive wickets at 45 in the last 18 ODIs he played for Pakistan.

While his recent T20 record is even more below par, having taken only 16 wickets in the last 16 games.

The Daily Times quoted Bakht, as saying that Misbah-ul-Haq is leading the Test side by example and can be a good choice for the World Cup as well.

“He is handling the pressure in Test cricket extremely well and can handle the World Cup pressure as well. Credit goes to Misbah’s performance for Pakistan’s recent victory against New Zealand,” Bakht said. (ANI)