3 reasons why Pakistan must remove Sarfraz Ahmed as captain

There's been a long trail of criticism of Sarfraz Ahmed's captaincy. Admittedly, some of it is justified and some not as much. There is no question that Sarfraz has matured as captain and it can be argued that some of the positive results that Pakistan has achieved can at least be partly attributed to his leadership.

Without a doubt, Pakistan's 1-1 draw in the Test series in England and their Champions Trophy victory are two of their biggest accomplishments under Sarfraz.

Sarfraz's entire tenure as captain has been under Mickey Arthur. It's fair to say, for better or for worse, that Arthur has been largely responsible for molding him into the leader that he is today. One of the criticisms of Arthur's style of coaching has been his controlling management style.

In fact, he has been accused of spoon-feeding Sarfraz on how to captain on the field. His intentions may have been noble but the results have been uninspiring. The big question is whether Arthur's grooming has helped or hurt Sarfraz. The simple answer is that it's likely the latter.

The World Cup is just a few months away and Pakistan are at a crossroads. They have to decide now whether they intend to go into the World Cup under Sarfraz's leadership or under someone else as captain.

However, it is clear he may not be the right captain of this ship. Pakistan should look for another option and here are three reasons why:

#3 Mental Fatigue

It's been apparent for some time now that the burden of captaincy is taking its toll on Sarfraz's mental faculties. His performance with the bat has appreciably declined, his volatile temperament has been more on display when he's captaining on the field, and his confidence level has dropped to new lows.

In fact, in a moment of unguarded candor, he indicated in a press conference during the Asia Cup that he was having difficulty sleeping at night from the pressures of captaincy. There have been murmurs among the press and fans about whether Sarfraz would have even retained his spot in the playing XI had he not been the captain.

#2 Lack of tactical nous

Pakistan v New Zealand - 1st One Day International

One of Sarfraz's weakest points, as captain, has been the manner in which he has shepherded his bowling resources and the way he has set fields when Pakistan bow. At times it seems like he has lost control of his team on the field as he is seen screaming and hollering at teammates to follow his instructions.

It is largely believed that Arthur gives him set instructions on what kind of bowlers to utilize in specific situations. While this may sound like the coach is operating in his role as an advisor to the captain, Sarfraz has become so reliant on those instructions that when the play on the field veers from the anticipated scenario, he finds himself unable to react and implement the necessary changes to fit the match situation.

Unfortunately, despite being captain for several years, this crucial part of his captaincy has barely developed.

#1 Loss of Team's Respect

Australia Nets Session

The biggest failure of Sarfraz's captaincy has been his inability to garner his team's respect. Rarely have we seen players defend his captaincy or stand up for him in public. In fact, he's often seen painfully and inadequately defending himself or trying to explain away the reasons for his team's lackluster performance to a hostile local press in a contentious press conference environment.

More and more, his stooped shoulders and grimace filled facial expressions from behind the stumps portray a story of a defeated leader. The depth of a captain's leadership is often gauged by the level of inspiration his team draws from him. By that measure, Sarfraz's captaincy is already dead.

Given Pakistan's alarmingly deteriorating performances, including at home, the pertinent question for the PCB to be considering is not whether or not to retain Sarfraz as captain, but rather, who to replace him with.