Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has removed Sarfaraz Ahmed from the Test and T20I captaincy roles. They will take the decision on ODI captaincy later as their next ODI assignment is in July 2020.
Pakistan men’s cricket team is getting ready for the upcoming Australia tour. In this Australia tour, Pakistan will play the three-match T20I series and two-match Test series between 3rd November and 3rd December.
PCB has appointed Azhar Ali as the Test captain of Pakistan national cricket team. Meanwhile, the no.1-ranked T20I batsman Babar Azam will lead the Pakistan T20I side. The vice-captain of both formats will be announced during the squad selection. PCB will announce the T20I and Test squads for the Australia tour in this Monday (21st October) afternoon.
In recent times, the PCB has felt hugely disappointed on Sarfaraz Ahmed’s captaincy. He has failed to motivate the Pakistan national cricket team. In this year, Pakistan have provided very weak performances in every format.
Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Pakistan team failed to perform well in recent times
Before the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Pakistan won only three matches out of 21 international matches (lost 17 matches) in 2019. They faced some of those consistent defeats on their home venue UAE too.
Pakistan started the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in a poor way. Their on-field body language and attitude were totally unimpressed. Though they performed better in the latter stage of that tournament, Pakistan just failed to qualify for the semifinals. Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed faced huge criticism after that tournament exit.
Soon after that tournament, it was the speculation that the PCB would remove Sarfaraz from at least the Test captaincy role. However, the new Head Coach-cum-chief-selector, Misbah-ul-Haq backed the captain Sarfaraz as he retained the leadership position for the recently concluded home limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.
Due to the security issue, many top Sri Lankan players denied playing in Pakistan. As a result, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sent the inexperienced teams in the Pakistan tour. Sarfaraz-led Pakistan won the three-match ODI series comfortably by 2-0. However, the no.1-ranked T20I team Pakistan faced whitewash in the three-match T20I series against inexperienced Sri Lanka.
Pakistan players disappointed in that T20I series. Misbah-ul-Haq is very unhappy with the players’ attitude, including captain Sarfaraz Ahmed. The Pakistan captain has also failed to perform well with the bat. Now, Sarfaraz has been dropped out from the captaincy role in Test and T20I formats. His ODI captaincy is also under the danger but PCB hasn’t taken any decision on this as their next ODI assignment will be against the hosts Netherlands in July 2020.
Pakistan won the ICC Champions Trophy 2017
Sarfaraz Ahmed took over the captaincy role in 2015. He has led the Pakistan team in 100 international matches – 50 ODIs, 37 T20Is and 13 Tests. Under his captaincy, Pakistan has won 61 international matches and lost 36 international matches.
Sarfaraz Ahmed-led Pakistan won four Tests out of 13 Tests (eight lost). Meanwhile, under his captaincy, Pakistan won 29 T20Is and lost eight T20Is. However, he led the Pakistan T20I team in four matches in 2019 and they lost all those matches. Out of his 50 ODIs as the captain, Pakistan have won 28 ODIs and lost 20 ODIs.
Sarfaraz Ahmed led the Pakistan side to win the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 after beating arch-rival India in the final. It was the first Champions Trophy victory for Pakistan. However, his captaincy has failed to maintain a good showcase along with the positive motivation in recent time.