AB's coup d'etat.

[sandeep]

Disappointing to see Hashim Amla hounded out of Captaincy.  I think its unfair to pin South Africa's recent struggle in tests on him, which is what the unsaid unseemly justification for this move is.  AB's made no secret of his desire for Captaincy across all formats, inspite of the board's reluctance.  And to push for this change reflect's pretty poorly on him.  Take nothing away from his individual brilliance with the bat or in the field, but on the evidence thus far in ODIs, AB's a pretty ordinary captain.  And I would expect things to get worse for the proteas before they get better.  AB's leadership during the ODI world cup down under was quite often wrong-headed.  His choice of tactics and reading of the game before, during, and after games showed that he wasn't really the man to lead South Africa to World Cup glory.  The games against India, Pakistan and New Zealand are ample enough evidence of this. Not only was AB's in-game approach a failure, his take-away and post-game conclusions betray a poor at best, clueless at worst, grasp of on-field captaincy and off-field leadership and man-management.  He is not alone in this.  The great ones often struggle when it comes to understanding the struggles of their team-mates and what it takes to get the best out of them.  

South Africa's test team's struggles are due an abject inability to come to terms with the loss of Kallis; and Steyn's slow fade-away from his pomp.  Their lack of batting depth is exposed and so is the bowling.  Changing captains is not going to fix this overnight.  Sacrificing Amla's captaincy is taking advantage of his good nature and team-first ethos.  It comes easier because Amla is who he is - a gentleman cricketer who does not wear his wounds on the surface.  But there shouldn't be any illusions, it does not come for free.  One man's ambition has brought about the premature end of another's.  Let's see how this plays out.  

[Sooda]

Indeed. The problem is the only other realistic option in Faf is in pretty dire form too

[sandeep]

Soooooooooda!  How are you doing. Hope all is good!

 

(Newsjunkie)

[Adi_91]

Amla is a great batsman but turned out to be an average captain, just like Sachin. In fact it looks pretty much like Sachin's captaincy, Amla's record.

[WC2011INDIA]

And they say that cricketers should be administrators of BCCI. Hahaha...can't captain a team, how the hell will they administer entire body

[fineleg]

And they say that cricketers should be administrators of BCCI. Hahaha...can't captain a team, how the hell will they administer entire body

Not all cricketers, but some are ok. Better than BCCI netas who are total politicians.