Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq reckons the national side didn't perform at its best during the last year's 2019 World Cup in the UK because its skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and his players weren't really feeling secured about their future.
Inzamam, the team's chief selector at the time, believes Sarfaraz shouldn't have been removed as captain like he was after the tournament.
Read Also: Inzamam-ul-Haq recalls innings that turned Pakistan's 2017 Champions Trophy campaign
Pakistan won five of its nine league games and finished with as many points as New Zealand did, but the team's heavy losses against West Indies, India and the defeat to Australia came to back to haunt, as it had to settle with a rank in the points table below the Kiwis on net run-rate, failing to make the semis.
“Even in the last World Cup I felt the captain and players were under pressure because they were thinking if we don’t do well in the tournament we will be out. That environment was created and this is not good for cricket,” Inzamam told a TV channel as per PTI.
"Sarfaraz achieved some notable victories for Pakistan and was learning to be a good captain but unfortunately when he had learnt from experience and mistakes he was removed as captain," he added.
Inzamam's tenure ended there. He was replaced by former skipper Misbah-ul-Haq in a dual role of chief selector and head coach in replacement of Mickey Arthur, who was sacked by PCB.
Soon after taking over the management, Misbah and the board dropped Sarfaraz as captain and player across all formats.
"Sarfaraz won us the Champions Trophy (2017) and also made the team number one in T20I cricket. He got us some good wins. He should have been given more time as captain by the board but it acted in haste and didn’t give him confidence or patience," said Inzamam.
Pakistan has now opted for a split-captaincy model, with Azhar Ali becoming the skipper in Tests and Babar Azam leading the side in ODIs and T20Is.
Inzamam said whoever the captain is, should be given a long rope and that person himself must be able to motivate his players. He cited the example of Pakistan's greatest cricketer and inspirational former skipper, Imran Khan, to stress his point.
"He (Imran) won the 1992 World Cup because by that time he had become a seasoned captain and learnt to motivate his players and get them to fight in every match," he said.
In another example, Inzamam said: "Babar struggled initially in Test cricket but we (his selection panel) never had any doubt about his ability so we persisted with him and see today where he is standing in all formats."
(Inputs from PTI)
