Azhar Mahmood lauds PCB's policy of single captain for all formats

Pakistan bowling coach Azhar Mahmood has hailed the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) policy to appoint single captain ' Sarfraz Ahmed 'for all three formats of the game at the international level. Mahmood believes that the PCB has taken an absolutely right decision to appoint one skipper across all formats as he could have a better overall view of the workload on all players involved in the three teams.

Azhar Mahmood

'Conventional wisdom dictates that being a captain of any side is a stressful job but to be appointed captain for all three teams can add a whole new level of pressure. However, in my opinion, having one captain for all three formats is the right decision. The reason is simply that one captain can have a better overall view of the workload on all players involved in the three teams,' Pakpassion.net quoted Mahmood as saying.

Explaining the policy of one-captain-for-all-formats, the 42-year-old said, 'So, for example, an ODI captain would want Mohammad Amir or Hasan Ali in his team, as would the T20I one and also the Test captain would want the same. In that sense, we would not be able to implement a rotation policy for the bowlers as each captain would want the best for his team without looking at the larger picture, which is something one captain in all formats can do with ease,' he explained.

He further insisted that having single captain also makes it less hectic for the players to understand the thought process of their leader. 'One more advantage of having one captain is that he can develop a good understanding with all players in the squad across all formats. From a player's point of view, he has to deal with three different captains and understand their style of thinking, which can be confusing, so having one captain can easily solve this problem,' said Mahmood.

Mahmood's comments came ahead of his side's two-match Test series against Sri Lanka , beginning September 28 in Abu Dhabi.