Friday, January 25, 2002 Only a year ago there was a real danger that Waqar Younis would disappear from the international stage, a fallen and bitter hero. Now his command of Pakistan cricket strengthens as each game passes, and his rivals have been all but vanquished. Wickets are tumbling, the world's most disunited cricketers are uniting behind him, and administrators and fans are falling for him just as they did a decade ago. Life is so sweet that it must be time for a reality check.

No doubt Waqar is a top geezer as well as an outrageous poser. He has led Pakistan out of the madness that prevailed until halfway through last year's tour of England. He has leadership qualities that Imran Khan recognised long ago, but there are plenty of reasons why Waqar should never have been made captain. Foremost was that he had become injury-prone and had lost his edge. Waqar, to his humiliation, was no longer an automatic selection, and oblivion beckoned. But he has repaid the PCB's faith in his captaincy with form, fitness, and success. The PCB, for its part, argues that it had run out of options, although one option it chose to overlook was appointing a player not tainted by Judge Qayyum's match-fixing inquiry.

There is also a theory that fast bowlers make terrible captains. Moments of anger, fatigue, exhilaration, or vacancy have never been conducive to wise decision-making. The quicks, as much as they deny it, are nearly always in one of those moods. Not that they are more irrational than their pals up the order, but fast bowling has an intensity and an inward focus that leaves little room for dwelling on the finer points of strategy. Hence, few fast bowlers are given the responsibility, even fewer are successful, and those that are, succeed through inspiration not innovation.

Waqar is definitely from the inspiration school of captaincy, which is great while it works but a lame-duck policy when form and fitness desert you. How long will Waqar hold out? Until the next World Cup if he is lucky - a year or two longer if he is truly blessed. Waqar's body could let him down at any moment, just as Wasim Akram's is doing. Advancing age does you no favours in terms of recovery time. What do Pakistan do then? Inzamam is the vice-captain but this is an honorary post not a stepping stone.

Even if Pakistan's toecrusher-in-chief keeps going for a couple of years - and he is determined enough to pull it off - his record flatters to deceive. Four Test wins out of five, second place in England's NatWest Series, and a Sharjah trophy may look like a great start but examine it with the weakest microscope and the doubts leap out at you.

How much was Pakistan's series-levelling victory at Old Trafford down to England's negative tactics and generous umpiring? If ever there was an example of inspiration by desperation, Waqar demonstrated it on the final day of that Test. The NatWest series was a cakewalk thanks to England's ineptitude, and Pakistan crumbled to Australia in the final. The remaining Test wins have come against the might of Bangladesh, a leadership challenge that Mr Bean would not have bungled. Victory in Sharjah was creditable though unsurprising.

This is not to say that Waqar could have delivered better results. Nor is it to diminish his passion, conviction, or talent. The issue is that a few wins send expectations ballistic in Pakistan, and Waqar is imaginatively being bracketed with Imran as one of the country's best captains. Great warrior though he is, Waqar's captaincy remains a largely unknown quantity. Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand will expose the truth over the next 12 months. West Indies, in free fall, are unlikely to shake the cult of Younis - especially in Sharjah, where he lived as a child and has taken 100 wickets in 53 one-dayers.

Succession planning is not a concept that those visionaries at the PCB have traditionally paid much heed to. They should. The history of Pakistan cricket shows that chaos is only ever an injury or a defeat away.

Kamran Abbasi, born in Lahore, brought up in Rotherham, is assistant editor of the British Medical Journal. His Asian View appears on Wisden.com every Friday.

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