Questions still keep popping up about Sarfraz Ahmed’s captaincy despite the team stringing together a 11th T20 series victory
dubai — Pakistan are turning out to be the new ‘Invincibles’ when it comes to the most abridged version of the game after the eviscerations of trans-Tasmanians Australia and New Zealand that has put them on a hot streak. But questions still keep popping up about Sarfraz Ahmed’s captaincy heading into the ODI World Cup despite the team stringing together an impressive 11th T20 series victory and a winning sequence of nine consecutive matches.
They have been quite the team to beat, top notch in all the three departments of the game. That said, Sarfraz’s reign in far from certain for the World Cup in Old Blighty next year, especially after the Asia Cup debacle.
And while a good showing in the ODI segment against New Zealand over the next couple of weeks should go some way in addressing it, Sarfraz though, has no answer to the frequent queries directed at him, saying that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would be the ones who could give a reply. “This question has been asked many times to which I don’t have an answer to,” said Sarfraz, when asked if he would feel much more secure if he was confirmed a captain for the World Cup.
“The PCB will be in a better situation to answer who will be or not be the captain for the World Cup. My job is to just play and it is the responsibility of the PCB regarding who will be or not be the captain,” he added.
Results under Sarfraz should speak for itself, with a Test series win against Australia adding to their rich vein of form in T20s, the Asia Cup being just a minor blip. But Mohsin Khan, the head of the PCB’s new cricket committee, said that Sarfraz should be relieved from the Test captaincy
as all three formats were proving to be a burden on him. Meanwhile, speaking about their fantastic run in T20s, Sarfraz put it down to their fielding as well as showing faith in the youngsters.
“I feel that our fielding has been the difference. If you compare our team with other teams, I feel we are fielding better than all the other teams and the catches that we have taken and the run outs we have effected at crucial junctures, I don’t think other teams have been able to do that. This has been the main factor. The boys are young because of which they are giving it their all on the field and that is why our results are exceptional in this format,” felt the 31-year-old.
“If you speak about the boys, from when I have become the captain in T20s, mostly it is the same set of players who have been playing with me since day one when I took over as captain. Even the new boys who have come in, we have carried them till the end. There is no player whom we have given a chance for one series and then discarded. Fakhar Zaman came, Shadab Khan came, Faheem Ashraf came, whoever came, we have given them a longer run in the team. Even if he has been dropped for a series, he has still been part of the team and it is not like he has been dropped from the scheme of things. The fact that these players have been playing together for quite some time, that’s why the performance has been good,” he added.
The PCB will be in a better situation to answer who will be or not be the captain for the World Cup
Sarfraz Ahmed