KARACHI:
Recently, the Pakistan cricket team faced a crushing defeat in the Test series against England. This was the first time that Team Pakistan was whitewashed in a home series. Naturally, it raised many questions regarding team selection, pitch orientation, and more.
Unfortunately, the team’s performance is not satisfactory in both ODIs and T20Is. Despite being the captain of all three formats, Babar Azam has failed to make appropriate decisions and improve the team’s declining performance. On the other hand, the Pakistani team was performing significantly well under Sarfaraz Ahmed. Under his captaincy, Pakistan won the Champions Trophy in June 2017 and reached the number one spot in the T20 ranking.
However, the selection committee dropped Sarfaraz from the team. Although he was present in the reserves for some games, he seldom got an opportunity to make the playing eleven. In a turn of events, he was selected for the Test series against New Zealand and has performed exceptionally well for someone who had not played an international match for a while. He was given this chance based on his performance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy this year. As a well-wisher of the Pakistan cricket team, I suggest that Sarfaraz Ahmed should be re-appointed as captain of the team for better results.
Sumayya Hashmi
Karachi
Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2023.
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