Sarfaraz Ahmed should be sacked as Pakistan captain, recommends coach Mickey Arthur

Following Pakistan’s poor performance in the 2019 World Cup, Sarfaraz Ahmed, the team’s skipper, has come under fire. Even before the mega event, question marks were there over his leadership abilities, but a number of former cricketers reckoned that he’s the best for the job. Under his captaincy, the Men in Green have done well in T20Is, but have underperformed in Tests and ODIs.

Recently, it was learned that Sarfaraz was relieved of Test captaincy. A few of the reports also suggested that Azhar Ali’s name was being contemplated for the Test captaincy. Now, it has come to the fore that Mickey Arthur, the head coach, has recommended the PCB’s cricket committee to sack Sarfaraz as the captain. Arthur, reportedly, spoke a few negative things about the Pakistan skipper.

“Arthur did have some negative things to say about Sarfaraz’s captaincy skills to the members,” a source was quoted as saying as per reports in India Today. However, Arthur himself has asked for an extension of two years, which he believes to be enough for him to deliver the desired results. “I need two more years with the Pakistan team and then I can deliver remarkable results.”

Arthur’s tenure ends on August 15

Under Arthur, Pakistan won the 2017 Champions Trophy in England and also attained the number-one position in ICC’s T20I team rankings. But Pakistan’s journey in Test cricket has been horrendous as the team is ranked seventh. The contracts of Arthur and other support staff end on August 15. It has also been known that Arthur left a few members unimpressed with his arguments.

“The members were not satisfied with his argument that after the 2017 Champions Trophy the fielding standards of the Pakistan team went down after the forced exit of fielding coach, Australian Steve Rixon. Arthur made a big deal out of Rixon’s sudden departure in August 2018 as he had issues with the PCB management over delayed payments,” the source added.

Arthur recently made a presentation to the committee on the team’s performance and selection decisions. Sources also mentioned that names of other members were also discussed. One of them put forth Mahela Jayawardena’s name, but was informed that since he is working with the Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL, it would be hard to lure him with a better pay package.