Azhar Ali has been handy with his bat since his new role as the ODI captain for Pakistan, but his leading ability has not been up to the mark. Pakistan have slipped to ninth spot in the ICC ODI team ranking during his tenure; worst for a team since the ranking system was introduced.
He might be Pakistan’s one of the leading scorers in ODI and Test, but he is not good enough to lead his team. Yes, Azhar Ali finds himself in such a tough situation after a 4-1 drubbing against Australia in ODI series. Since his new responsibility, he has the worst records among skippers, who led Pakistan in ODIs from 2010. Let’s have a look at Pakistan’s performance since Azhar Ali handed captaincy right after World Cup 2015 when Misbah-ul-Haq retired as the captain from ODIs.
Worst performance among top teams
Azhar Ali was not part of the ICC World Cup 2015 and was handed the new role by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in fact, he had played last ODI back in 2013. His consistence Test performance and good form in the List A matches forced PCB to give this role to Azhar Ali. But his form failed to create an impact on his team as Pakistan continued to slip downwards.
Pakistan’s ODI performance since WC 2015
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L |
| Australia | 40 | 25 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1.785 |
| South Africa | 28 | 17 | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1.7 |
| Bangladesh | 21 | 13 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1.625 |
| England | 36 | 20 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1.538 |
| India | 27 | 15 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 1.25 |
| New Zealand | 32 | 17 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1.214 |
| Sri Lanka | 30 | 12 | 14 | 1 | 3 | 0.857 |
| Pakistan | 34 | 14 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0.736 |
| Zimbabwe | 36 | 9 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0.375 |
| West Indies | 17 | 4 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0.333 |
Pakistan have won only five 2-team ODI series out of ten series played under Azhar Ali, two against Zimbabwe, one each against Ireland, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Overall, Pakistan won 12 games and lost 18 games.
Pakistan’s series wise performance under Azhar Ali’s tenure
| Opposition | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Start Date | Winner |
| Bangladesh | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 17-Apr-15 | Bangladesh |
| Zimbabwe | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 26-May-15 | Pakistan |
| Sri Lanka | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 11-Jul-15 | Pakistan |
| Zimbabwe | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1-Oct-15 | Pakistan |
| England | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11-Nov-15 | England |
| New Zealand | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25-Jan-16 | New Zealand |
| Ireland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18-Aug-16 | Pakistan |
| England | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 24-Aug-16 | England |
| West Indies | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30-Sep-16 | Pakistan |
| Australia | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 13-Jan-17 | Australia |
Poor performance among Pakistani captains
For the first time in 2015, when Azhar Ali led his team in ODIs, Pakistan had three different captains – Misbah-ul-Haq for Tests, Shahid Afridi for T20Is (then) and Azhar Ali for ODIs. In a statement by PCB chief Shaharyar Khan state that they had culture of keeping single captain across formats and having three different captains lowers standard of Pakistan cricket. Since 2010, Azhar Ali’s performance as an ODI captain is worst among the list. Below figures tell you why he has given to Pakistan in his role.
Pakistan’s ODI record since 2010 (List of Captains)
| Captain | Span | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | W/L |
| Shahid Afridi | 2010-2014 | 37 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Misbah-ul-Haq | 2011-2015 | 86 | 44 | 39 | 2 | 1 | 1.128 |
| Azhar Ali | 2015-2017 | 31 | 12 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0.666 |
Individual performance not good enough
Azhar Ali has been handy with his bat for Pakistan in Tests, scoring triple hundred against England last year at Dubai and a double hundred against Australia at MCG on the Boxing Day Test. He is also the second highest run getter for Pakistan since World Cup 2015. But his performance was good enough to lift Pakistan in ODI series, especially in overseas games.
Most runs for Pakistan since World Cup 2015
| Player | Mat | Inns | NO | Runs | HS | Ave | SR | 100 | 50 |
| Babar Azam | 23 | 23 | 1 | 1168 | 123 | 53.09 | 90.54 | 4 | 6 |
| Azhar Ali | 31 | 31 | 0 | 1153 | 102 | 37.19 | 79.9 | 3 | 5 |
| Shoaib Malik | 28 | 28 | 9 | 1058 | 112 | 55.68 | 101.73 | 1 | 7 |
| Mohammad Hafeez | 27 | 27 | 1 | 985 | 103 | 37.88 | 82.42 | 2 | 6 |
| Sarfraz Ahmed | 28 | 24 | 3 | 865 | 105 | 41.19 | 90.67 | 1 | 5 |
| Sharjeel Khan | 14 | 14 | 0 | 618 | 152 | 44.14 | 130.37 | 1 | 5 |
| Mohammad Rizwan | 25 | 22 | 6 | 460 | 75* | 28.75 | 89.84 | 0 | 3 |
| Imad Wasim | 18 | 14 | 5 | 332 | 63* | 36.88 | 97.93 | 0 | 3 |
| Ahmed Shehzad | 10 | 10 | 0 | 298 | 95 | 29.8 | 78.01 | 0 | 1 |
| Haris Sohail | 5 | 5 | 2 | 288 | 89* | 96 | 96.64 | 0 | 4 |
The PCB has been thinking of removing Azhar Ali since Pakistan’s 4-1 defeat against England last year. Shaharyar Khan had asked Azhar to consider stepping down. Azhar decided to stay on and led Pakistan to a 3-0 whitewash against West Indies in the UAE. That win left no choice for PCB to retain Azhar for the Australia tour. However, PCB will have to reconsider Azhar’s place in the team as captain and it will be interesting to see what they do in near future.
