Sarfaraz Ahmed Sacked as Pakistan Captain from Tests and T20s

Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has been sacked as pakistan captain across formats due to a dismal show of Pakistan in the ICC World Cup earlier this year as well as post tournament. He faced a lot of criticisms because of this and even his yawning image during the match and confused captaincy throughout the World Cup made headlines as well.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) tried to revamp the team management completely after the 2019 World Cup where Sarfaraz Ahmed still managed to be the captain with Babar Azam as his deputy in the limited-overs. However, with a 0-3 whitewash over Sri Lanka in the recently-concluded Twenty20 International series at home and the axe fell on Sarfaraz as PCB has named Azhar Ali as the Test captain before their tour to Australia later this month.

Babar Azam has been named the T20I captain as Pakistan is scheduled to play three T20 Internationals and two Tests against Australia during later this year. However, the ODI captain will be finalised later as they are not scheduled to play any ODI series in the near future. Along with this, vice-captain too will be decided later.

However, Sarfaraz Ahmed has not only lost the captaicy but also his place in the Pakistan team.

“It has been a difficult decision to drop Sarfaraz Ahmed, who has performed well as a player and a leader. But, his loss in form and confidence is visible and, in the best interest of the team, it has been decided to leave him out and provide him the opportunity to reflect and regroup himself and try to reclaim his form away from international cricket,” Ehsan Mani said as per PCB’s released statement.

Sarfaraz Ahmed was also present in the press conference and he congratulated the new captains. “It has been an honour to lead Pakistan at the highest level. I want to thank all my colleagues, coaches and selectors who have helped me in this journey. My good wishes are with Azhar Ali, Babar Azam and the Pakistan cricket team, and I hope they will continue to grow stronger and stronger,” he said.