I've just been chatting with former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammed Akram about the removal of Shoaib Malik as skipper today.

Here's what Akram had to say :-

The blame culture is still alive and kicking in Pakistani cricketing circles and this time it was Malik whose neck was on the line. Why havent the manager or coach or selectors also been sacked? It seems that in Pakistan cricket every time we lose, someone has to get the blame for it and this time it was Malik.

Malik couldnt go out there and hold the bat for his team mates or bowl for them, they should take individual responsibilty for their poor performances, rather than putting all the blame squarely on the captains shoulders.

I think the decision is a very harsh and shallow one and it seems it is a knee jerk reaction based on just one heavy defeat against Sri Lanka. Malik's track record wasn't bad at all in my opinion. Instead of looking to the future and long term planning we tend to keep chopping and changing our captains, selectors, coaches and selection committee. We keep looking for quick solutions to problems that are at grass roots level in Pakistan cricket.

Look at the South Africans and Graeme Smith, they gave Smith the opportunity to take over the captaincy and learn the art and to improve as a captain and get the support of senior players within the camp. Sadly it seems that our senior players didnt want to offer the required support
to Malik. Without the support of senior players, any captain would struggle to do well.

Younis Khan is a good friend of mine and I think he is a very good choice to replace Malik, but I am worried as to why he didnt want the job 2 years ago and suddenly he wants the job now.

We need to groom a captain and stick with him. All this chopping and changing isnt helping anyone, there is no stability and no continuity as everyone is constantly looking over their shoulders and passing the buck.

At the moment we have "yes men" like Intikhab Alam and Yawar Saeed in there which is a backward step. Instead we should be appointing one of Javed Miandad or Wasim Akram or Waqar Younis as coach. These men have played cricket at the highest level and know the game inside out, they know the modern game not like Initikhab who played more than 40 years ago. The likes of Yawar Saeed and Intikhab are people that I know are old school and not really in touch with the modern game. The issue for the PCB is whether they just want a group of yes men or whether they want the best coach and manager out there.