3 Players who were unceremoniously sacked as captain

Leading a professional cricket team is never an easy job as the captain has to take care of various aspects of the game. From deciding the batting order to selecting the new-ball bowlers, the skipper has to take several significant decisions which can decide the fate of the game. Alongside this, the captain needs to focus on his performance as well.

The leadership task becomes more challenging if an individual is captaining a national team. While many players have been able to embrace this challenge, several fail to live up to the expectations. After all, managing all players in the side, tackling difficult questions from media persons, and still thriving isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, several international captains have been sacked midway after failing to perform or getting involved in a controversy.

Meanwhile, let’s look at three players who were sacked as captain unceremoniously:

1. Tim Paine

Days before the start of the 2021-22 Ashes, Tim Paine stepped down as Australia’s Test captain in wake of the infamous ‘sexting’ scandal. Back in 2017, the wicketkeeper-batter had sent several inappropriate messages to a then female colleague in Cricket Tasmania. As the episode came into light in November this year, Paine found it best to step down as the skipper. He has also taken a break from cricket citing mental-health reasons.

2. Steve Smith

Interestingly, Paine had become the Australian captain amid controversy as well. During the Cape Town Test in 2018, the then Aussie skipper Steve Smith, alongside David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, was found guilty of being aware of the ball-tampering scandal. The trio was subsequently suspended and Smith lost his captaincy. Although the veteran batter made a comeback a year later, he wasn’t reinstated as captain.

3. Sarfaraz Ahmed

The veteran wicketkeeper-batter, who isn’t a regular face in the national team anymore, was leading Pakistan a couple of years ago. Sarfaraz had the charge across formats and the Men in Green did pretty well under him. In fact, Sarfaraz even led Pakistan to the 2017 Champions Trophy title. However, constant failures meant PCB sacked him as captain across formats in 2019. He hasn’t been a regular face in the playing XI since then.