Misbah-ul-Haq backs Sarfraz Ahmed as Pakistan skipper

A month ago, Pakistan cricket looked to be in a bottomless pit after the debacle in Asia Cup. The side’s poor performance in the tournament where they were walloped twice by arch-rivals India led to severe criticism from fans and former players. It was even said that the side’s Champions Trophy victory in 2017 was a fluke.

That was September end. By the time it was early November, the Men in Green’s fortunes underwent a sea change as they kept on winning non-stop. Pakistan recently defeated Australia in a two-Test series in the United Arab Emirates before thrashing both Australia and New Zealand 3-0 in consecutive T20I series. The wins mean Pakistan have remained undefeated in their last 11 T20I series, which fully justifies their No.1 ranking in T20Is.

Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq took the opportunity to back the side and say that there was no need to even discuss about changing skipper Sarfraz Ahmed. Rather he should be confirmed as the captain till the next World Cup, due to be held in England in May-July 2019.

Asia Cup just one bad tournament, says Misbah

“Just one bad tournament doesn’t mean you start talking about replacing the captain,” Misbah was quoted as saying by Pakistan’s Geo News.

Ahmed came under heavy criticism after Pakistan failed to make the finals of the Asia Cup and lost against India as well as Bangladesh. Their defeats to the arch-rivals, who lacked a number of player including regular captain Virat Kohli, were so one-sided that the reaction was too severe.

Ahmed’s own batting and captaincy moves were also being questioned and former captain like Wasim Akram asked the utility in playing teams like Zimbabwe (Pakistan thrashed the African side 5-0 in its den before the Asia Cup). But as his records show, Ahmed has remained one of Pakistan’s best captains in limited-overs cricket till now.

He has led the side to victory 29 out of 33 times in T20Is (success rate of over 87 per cent) and 19 out of 29 times in ODIs (success rate of over 65 per cent).

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.