While Inzi's leadership style fulfils the requirement of a captain leading from the front (if you ignore his fielding, and I know this is tough, but just hypothetically speaking lets do it for a while), there is not much more he can to do inspire others than become, as Osman points out, the 3rd most successful batsman as captain, behind Don Bradman and Ricky Ponting.

Then there is also his "calming influence”, which one might argue has helped other players, players who were previously under performing, to stand tall at their heights. The likes of Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi for one have been on record saying their improved consistency in recent times late is in no small part down to the confidence "Inzi Bhai" has in them. I could well go and prove that almost each and every member of the team from Shoaib Akhtar to Mohammad Yousuf to his deputy Younis Khan him self and even the likes of Kamran Akmal have benefited from Inzi's leadership style, the same style that at times leads even the most die hard of Inzi fans like me to become some what skeptical.

After all, no one can possibly deny that there are serious questions marks over his tactical awareness, his blunders some times have cost Pakistan matches (in the ODIs against India) and at other times nearly done so (the 2nd test vs. NZ in 2003). In recent times Inzi has also shown a peculiar reluctance to go for the kill when he has his opposition on the book foot.

On countless such occasions has Inzi allowed his oppositions to come back in the game by, and thus shown a disturbingly frequent tendency, that of complacency. While it may not have cost Pakistan seriously so far (one series loss against India is so far his only major bad result), it can be argued, with all justification, that Pakistan will be unlikely to get away with such mistakes come a tournament like the World Cup, where you'd expect quite a few winner takes it all games.
I have been relentless in my criticism of Inzi's absent mindedness in this respect. Yet despite all that, when I think about it, I find it impossible so see how Pakistan could have been the team it is now without him being at helm.

He remains far and away our best batsman, since taking over as captain; his form has improved, not merely in the amount of runs he's scored, but the consistency. Inzi now actually looks in form pretty much all the time, and rarely does he get out at least without making a start.

I don't know if he would have played this well if he was not captain, and given the form he had in his last few pre captaincy games (the 2003 World Cup namely) I frankly don't even want to think about it, it's far too scary a proposition. And it's also fairly safe to assume that had it not been of all the runs he has scored in recent times, regardless of who might have been in charge, Pakistan would not have been sitting pretty at 4th spot in the rankings.

A change of captaincy now, with the World Cup less then 12 months away, will bring with it self some instability. Sure Younis Khan has been vice captain for fairly substantial period by now, and that you ought to expect the transition from vice captaincy to full time captaincy to be smooth, but you can only hope this will be the case, you can't be sure, especially given Younis is more bold a leader then Inzi, and might want to make changes, either in the team it self or the way various members go about doing their duties, changes that other team members might not be comfortable with, or might at least need time to get accustomed to. Not a scenario you'd want ideally in the lead up to a World Cup.

More important than this issue is how Inzi will take a potential sacking from the job? What if he takes it personally and prematurely quits from the game because of it? Would it not be a shame if Pakistan Cricket can't even repay back one of its most faithful servants by giving him a graceful exit from the international stage? Perhaps if this line of argument is too self centered for every ones liking, we should ask if indeed Pakistan could cope with an Inzi less side at the World Cup? Are we ready for batting order without him? Who will fill in his batting boots? Can we fully trust Younis Khan, with his less then impressive ODI record? I'm not sure. As much as I rate Younis Khan's captaincy, it can be argued he has a long way to go before he can convince others apart from his number one fan Imran Khan with his batting at the ODI level, and that too, away from home, and against teams other then India.

And if I was to get unsympathetic, I could well say that about every other Pakistani batsman barring Inzi, and perhaps Kamran Akmal, who has shown in his brief career so far a very positive capability that of being able to score runs in different conditions. As classy as Mohammad Yousuf is, his away record too, particularly in places like South Africa (which in case you don't know is standby World Cup venue in case things go wrong in West Indies) is fairly average. Generally speaking not many of the Pakistani batsmen are that reliable away from home.

If there is anyone you can count on in this respect it is Inzi. This, not to say is something healthy, but it is a fact. I am still not convinced despite our improvements that we can cope with an Inzi-less batting order. Not now at least, not at the World Cup at least, hopefully beyond that we can and we will learn some way or the other. I understand an Inzi-less side is inevitable since he ought to retire at some point, but I am not convinced we should take all these risks just before a World Cup.

Even if we assume a sacking will not make him quit, we can't be sure of the affect it will have on him. What if his form dips dramatically after losing captaincy? Can Pakistan cope with an out of form Inzi in their side in the World Cup? If the evidence from the last World Cup, and Pakistan's recent ODI losses is any evidence, the answer would be no. Then there is also the problem of having a previous captain in the side, Pakistan knows from past experience better then most how this scenario can affect a team's unity and spirit.

One of the very reasons why Pakistan has been able to do well under Inzi has been the total lack of any diving factors within the team. What is to say we won’t have a repeat of the Wasim/Waqar/Saeed/Rashid/Moin lobby we had in some of our teams in the late 90s? Nothing has been more pleasing about Inzi's side then its ability to play as a team, as a unit, all for one and one for all. I can't help but feel that with Younis Khan in charge and Inzi in the same team this team unity might possibly be compromised.

May be I'm getting too worried, but I'm a great believer in gut feeling, and in this respect the gut feeling simply isn't there. I think eventually it should be a matter of weighing the pros against the cons, as opposed to head against the heart. And some how I'm convinced Inzi being in charge at least till the World Cup ought to have greater good then bad affects.

I like to believe that fielding is no less a factor than batting and bowling in 50 over cricket, and that all cricketers should either be quite good at two of them or the very best in just one to be a regular in a top one day side.

In the last decade Ponting, Inzamam, Sachin, Mcgrath, Rhodes, Donald, Waqar and Kallis have been good enough over a period to qualify under the second category (some of them have pretty handy second skills though).

Of late though Inzy's fielding is reaching new lows. He is no more the safe close-in catcher of old and bending down is quite a 'waist' of effort. I do not see him doing great things in ODI's for a very long time from here.

The world Cup is only a year away. But that also means 12 months. If PCB handles it well then there is no reason a team man like Inzy should mind handing the 'smaller' captaincy over to an obviously gifted successor like Younis.

Let's face it, if a team gets disunited from getting the needful done then perhaps it was not united in the first place.

I love inzamam. I am of the same physical disposition and he has given hope to our 'kind'. There are some things that bother me about him though. Osman Samiuddin mentioned in his article that inzamam said he will not play if not as captain. This is a very unproffessional attitude to take. It is deplorable. You are playing for your country, and you should play under any workable condition. Its even worse because, as you said, and as inzamam himself knows, pakistan would struggle without his batting. It seems a kind of blackmail to me. I really don't think his captaincy is poor, what is important as you mentioned is that he has the team united under him. He could do with a bit more tactical nous. But again, the not playing if not captain stance is unforgivable. I doubt that if he had been an australian, he would still have been in the team. Great batsman though.

Younis does not have the temprament of a captain. He is very uncertain in his batting and behaviour. I reckon Yousuf to be the next captain if he maintains his fitness.

Personally, I reckon Younis Khan will fare pathetically in England in a few months time and all talk of him being the successor (and the replacement in fact) to Inzi will cease until Pakistan play the next popgun attack in superb batting conditions.

I'm not totally agreed with the point that Inzi is absent minded,what i believe that sometimes the commentators (like Chappel) exaggerate things like chappel exaggerated the Ganguly's case and we all know what happened to Ganguly. So i personally think of Inzi as a very appropriate and first option as captain, plus since he is the seniour most member of the team and one of the best batsman in the world and also one of the best captain in recent history of pakistan so he deserves to remain captain. If Inzi is lacking some charactaristics of leadership then Younis is there as assistant capt. to advice him.
Overall i will consider it a big blunder and another successful trick of chappel, if Inzi is removed from captaincy.

I FEEL THIS IS THE HIGH TIME FOR YOUNIS KHAN TO TAKE CAPTAINCY KEEPING IN MIND THE 2007 WORLD CUP. INZI SHOULD SUPPORT AS VICE CAPTAIN. INZI SHOULD TAKE THIS IN GOOD SPIRIT RATHER THAN FOR HIS INDIVIDUAL POSTING.

I will go with Sakeb saying "Younis does not have the temperament". I just can't see those captaincy skills in that player, only thing mentionable about that player is enthusiasm, his behavior on the pitch while batting is so awkward, jumping and trying to take silly quick singles in a test match, may be he is trying to hard to put some pressure on other team but that is not needed tough. On the other hand ‘Inzi’ one of the all times best batsmen have somehow managed to take out what was needed from Pakistani team, especially in a recent tests, he is a very shaky fielder there is no doubt about that, but still the team seems to be united after a very long time.

I guess Inzy plays with more passion when he plays as a leader which every one need to accept.But given that Cricket is a team game in which all the eleven members need to perform.But I feel that younis khan has the leadership qualitites like Imran khan who was inspiring the team members.But Inzy lacks this leadership qualities.i would'nt say that he is not doing a good job as a captain. But when thinga are not going as expected for your team you need someone to inspire the team members. I feel that Inzy lacks this character. It's because Inzy is usually very soft in nature which i feel will not help in motivating the players under tough conditions.So it would be good to see younis Khan in captaincy . This needs to done as early as possible since there is not much time for the team to settle down for the world cup.

I agree with S. Jagadish's post 100%; not much to add except that I liked what Younis did on the field in the Test Matches when Inzy was out injured(Karachi) but he is way too shaky as a Batsman and is a terrible runner and caller of a run. Watching Yousuf and Younis run is a nightmare,people harp on Inzy's fielding but he is a big man with a big presence and Younis does not have that presence. By the way India's fielding in Test Matches is worse than Pakistan's . Your Captain drops a fair few too; we are 4-0, what is your Test record? Inzy captains until his last innings for Pakistan. I doubt the same can be said of Dravid.

what i agree about the influence of Inzi bhai on team is the spirit to fight back and not giving-up. This was something that was missing from the team and soemtimes made me angry (pissed is the better word by the way). Afridi and Malik has started performing, though the credit goes to Bob as well. Even though inzi bhai lacks some tactics but still, what team has got and achieved under woolmer-inzi is marvellous. to be honest, pakistani team overall is reliable now. i dont fear of losing if we get a target of 280 or above in ODIs. cuz pakistan has done that so many times from 2003 and onwards than never before. confidence and spirit. thats why i would back the idea that inzi shouldn't be taken off as a captain.