Published On: Wed, Apr 6th,

Sarfraz Ahmed to Serve as Pakistan’s T20I captain

The wicketkeeper-batsman, Sarfraz Ahmed, has been selected as T20I captain of Pakistan. Sarfraz was already serving the One Day International team as vice-captain, and by now he will exercise the T20I captaincy after Shahid Afridi. Afridi voluntarily quit from captaincy after early exit of Pakistan in the recent Twenty20 World Cup.

The situation of T20 I captain of Pakistan is a topic of much gossip these days, because Afridi was severely criticized for his leadership due to the poor team performances of Pakistani team in both tournaments of World T20 and the Asia Cup. Pakistan team managed to win only 3 matches among 8 matches in both events.

In a scornful report after the WCT20 debacle, Waqar Younis, the former coach of Pakistani team, had criticized Afridi’s overall performance and leadership style. He wrote that Afridi had not been performing well with the ball, bat, or even as a captain however he had not been listened to. He further explained that the all rounder had not attended some practice sessions, meetings, and that was not a captain’s leadership.

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After the report by Waqar’, the team manager of Pakistan cricket team Intikhab Alam named Afridi an “absolutely clueless” captain in 5-page report. This report was enormously critical of off-field leadership and on-field tactics of Afridi. Intikhab also stated the sending Sarfraz in middle order by Afridi in recent T20 WC was a “critical waste of form and talent “. Intikhab complimented his report with several statistics, writing that among all deliveries that were faced by Pakistan at the WCT20, Sarfraz just played 17 and still he scored 41, 25, 58 and 38 in 4 T20I innings.

In 2006, Sarfraz captained Under-19 team of Pakistan and won the World Cup. Sarfaz also demonstrated his captaincy qualifications in Pakistan Super League, leading Quetta Gladiators to the final. He is the ideal candidate to replace Afridi.

However, Sarfraz’s will have to wait till September 7 for exercising his T20I captaincy debut, when Pakistan will face England for a one-off match at Old Trafford. The next home series of Pakistani team is in UAE against West Indies.

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