I have never felt more confused about Salman Ali Agha than I did about 18 months ago, when he was unveiled at a press conference as Pakistan’s new T20I captain. The only question I had was why? Why him as captain?

This was a guy who honestly hadn’t deserved his brief run in the national short-form side at that point, and wasn’t seen as T20 material by most observers, let alone being captain. He wasn’t even the best Pakistani player in his own PSL side, which was led by the much more established Shadab Khan. Back then, many had expected him to be appointed national skipper instead.

Flanking Salman on the stage that day was Aqib Javed - an elite-level chaos agent who has increasingly gotten more powerful in Pakistan cricket since. He compounded the confusion I was feeling then by announcing that Shadab would be Salman Ali Agha’s vice-captain. Reading back his explanation now, Aqib sounded like a man trying to convince himself more than others. "The reason for Shadab coming back is that he has good captaincy experience, plus also his mindset is to play aggressive cricket. His mindset is important because as vice-captain, with Agha also thinking that way, Shadab will be good. The combination is good."

The only way to make sense of the whole brouhaha was assuming that Aqib had chosen Salman to avoid the fallouts that had happened with more high-profile skippers like Shaheen Afridi and Babar Azam. Much like handing Shan Masood the Test captaincy, the Pakistan brains trust apparently tried to avoid controversy by controversially appointing two captains who would struggle to make the XI otherwise.

Salman promised “fearless and high-risk” cricket for his team going forward, and at the very least, he certainly delivered a better side. The team had been in freefall for much of the two years before, but Salman’s reign halted that. His only losses in tournament play came to England and India, while his team beat the likes of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and was only knocked out of the T20 World Cup on a net run rate tie-breaker. For a team that had previously lost to the USA and struggled to defeat Canada and Ireland, this was definitely an improvement, and certainly better results than under more celebrated predecessors.

Eventually, after 50 matches as skipper and having raised the subterranean bar for his team, Salman was dropped from both captaincy and the squad altogether a few weeks ago. At least this latest dropping was far less humiliating than the one in the summer, when he was part of a mid-tour purge just one match after being appointed interim captain.

But while I was confused about Salman Ali Agha in March ‘25, I have a lot of clarity about him now. For starters, I have a clear sense of his strength of character. The Test captaincy-to-culling was ruthless and cruel from the PCB, but he responded to that by smashing a triple century in first-class cricket right after.

And days after losing the poisoned chalice that was the T20I captaincy, he struck a superlative century in his first international innings since.

That hundred came in an ODI, which is not only the sole format he hasn’t been appointed national captain in, but is also by far and away his best one. At the time of his appointment to the T20I role his numbers in the format were mediocre. Instead, where he had shown considerable promise in his young career was in ODIs, averaging 41 at a strike-rate of 97. His numbers since then have only improved, and he has levelled up across several skills.

A good way to understand his current standing is to look at this comparison by Cricviz, which rates him as Pakistan’s best ODI batter, above the likes of Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam. As the chart shows, Salman is a well-rounded ODI batter, comfortable against pace, elite against spin, and prolific everywhere in the innings but especially in the middle.

However, by far his greatest importance to the side is his comfort with scoring heavily from low down the order - no other Pakistani has scored more hundreds batting outside the top four - which is particularly useful for a lineup as brittle as Pakistan’s. He has repeatedly shown an ability to stay calm and stabilise a flailing innings without losing any sense of urgency. His latest hundred against Sri Lanka was a perfect example of that, as he arrested a collapse and then served as the foundation others built around.

His numbers become absolutely phenomenal when Pakistan lose the toss, averaging almost 60 when they do. If the comeback innings after being dropped spoke to his strength, then these numbers scream it out loud. When things go against the script – an early collapse, a disadvantageous toss – is when he truly begins to shine.

He hasn’t played enough ODIs outside of Asia to be truly confident in how he will fare in different conditions, but at least he has an encouraging record in South Africa and Zimbabwe, which will be hosting the next ODI World Cup in less than a year. Moreover, his comfort down the order is exceedingly rare for his side. Most Pakistani white-ball sides of late have repeatedly tried to fit half a dozen openers in their lineup, with those shunted down the order often struggling to find their form.

For all that, there remains a non-zero chance that he might not make it to the World Cup at all. Of course, there is always the fear of injury, but far more worrying is the chaos that grips Pakistan cricket every few weeks, when all pretense of rationality is thrown out the window. Pakistan cricket is still under the increasingly irrational influence of Aqib Javed, who has a Stalinist approach to selection choices. Who is to say that Salman will survive the insanity Pakistan cricket surely has in store for the next 12 months?

But even if something untoward happens to his spot in the side, at least I won’t have any confusion about him anymore. This is a guy who has braved all the ridiculousness of his board by doing his absolute best, even in situations he isn’t suited for. This is a guy who’s risen above and beyond expectations, whenever he’s been asked to. And this is a guy who is clearly his team’s best ODI batter right now, even if no one in his country realises it.