Grateful to be in Category B of PCB’s central contracts: Sarfaraz Ahmed

Sarfaraz Ahmed, the Pakistan wicket-keeper, doesn’t have any regrets after being demoted from Category A to Category B in Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) centrally contracted players. Along with Sarfaraz, leg-spinner Yasir Shah also was brought down to Category B. The Karachi-born didn’t have the best of World Cups and he floundered in the home series against Sri Lanka as well.

Thereafter, the selectors dropped him from all three formats, apart from taking away the leadership mantle from him. Despite the tough times, the 32-year-old Sarfaraz sounded determined to make a comeback into the scheme of things.

Ups and downs are part of a cricketing career: Sarfaraz Ahmed

“To maintain anything, you need to work very hard. Category A, B or C doesn’t matter to me, as my main target is to make a place for myself whenever I make a comeback into the national side,” Sarfaraz was quoted as saying on a podcast by the PCB, reported by Cricket Pakistan.

Instead of cribbing over the demotion, Sarfaraz expressed pride because of the quality players, who got the contracts. “Ups and downs are part of a cricketing career. I am grateful to be in the B category because all our top cricketers are in it,” he stated.

In the last two years, left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Afridi has come up the ranks. The speedster currently plays all the three formats and hasn’t flattered to deceive. To add to his delight, Shaheen got a promotion to Category A and is placed there with Babar Azam, the ODI and T20I skipper and Azhar Ali, the Test captain. .

Sarfaraz reckons that Shaheen deserved the promotion after how he has played in the last few months. “I am happy that Shaheen has been promoted to category A as he performed really well in the 2019 World Cup and Test cricket as well,” Sarfaraz added.

A far as Sarfaraz is concerned, Misbah-ul-Haq, the chief selector and head coach, said that he isn’t out of contention and is a part of the national team’s plans. Back in October 2019, Sri Lanka whitewashed Pakistan 3-0 in the T20I series. Hence, in the tour of Australia, the management dropped a few players, one of which was Sarfaraz himself.