Ex-Pakistan cricketer Zafar Sarfaraz passes away after being tested positive with COVID-19

The coronavirus has spread like a wildfire across the globe. The virus has taken down many people as the entire world has come to a standstill. More than one lakh people have lost their lives to this dangerous virus while more than 19 lakh people have been affected by it. The COVID-19 has created a situation of emergency throughout the world.

However, recently the cricket fraternity also mourned as it lost a former star. Former Pakistan cricketer Zafar Sarfaraz has passed away after being tested positive with COVID-19. The former cricketer was suffering a lot through the illness before finally giving up.

Former Pakistan first-class cricketer Zafar Sarfaraz dies at 50

The former cricketer was 50-year-old. According to the report published on ESPNCrincinfo, Zafar Sarfaraz was admitted to a hospital in Peshawar for three days prior to his death. He was put on a ventilator as he was fighting for his life in the intensive care unit in a private hospital in Peshawar. Unfortunately, Sarfaraz is the first professional cricketer to face the fate of death in Pakistan.

He made his first-class debut way back in 1988. He played 15 first-class matches for Peshawar during his short career. He had scored 616 runs during his career. He played professional cricket for six years and finally retired in 1994. During his career, he had also played six domestic one-day matches. He had scored 96 runs in that format.

Upon retirement, Sarfaraz went on to take coaching roles through the mid-2000s. He coached the senior-level team and the U19 team of Peshawar during this time. Zafar was the brother of Akhtar Sarfaraz who played international cricket for Pakistan in the late 1990s. Akhtar, unlike his brother, had an illustrious domestic career where he played more than 100 first-class games. He played four ODIs for Pakistan. Akhtar had also passed away around 10 months ago in Peshawar after battling with colon cancer for a significant amount of time.

Peshawar, a city in the north of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has 744 of the nearly 5,500 active cases in the country. In Pakistan, close to 100 people have died due to this fatal pandemic.