Pakistan hasn’t been able to perform up to the mark. Neither in the current matches nor in the World Cup. So the whole nation was raising questions at the unpleasant performance of the team. Expecting Sarfaraz to resign from captaincy.
As much as anyone would deny captaincy has a great impact on the team’s performance. And the whitewash that the nation observed in T20I against the inexperienced team of Sri Lanka. It was indeed a humiliating defeat for Pakistan on its homeland in front of its own audience. After that Sarfaraz was surely up for some harsh criticism.
However, with Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shahzad’s career-ending performance they became the instant target of criticism.
Anyhow, the criticism on Sarfaraz came late, but it did come. Not only was his captaincy a fail but also his own performance as a player. It only shows that he is in poor form. And oh, let’s be reminded of the worst. Sarfaraz yawning in an India-Pakistan World Cup match. That is where everyone lost their faith in Sarfaraz the most. Not just as a player but as a captain.
What captain takes an India-Pakistan World Cup match that lightly? Yawning? Ugh. He earned some criticism from former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar as well.
He called the criticism upon himself with his laid back attitude. Because the score he made in the current series was 24, 26 and 17. It was embarrassing. Even the kids playing street cricket could score more than that.
This gave us a little overview of his fitness.
Sarfaraz Resigns From Captaincy
The criticism he faced after that either asking Sarfaraz to resign or improve his performance. And the ones he is still facing. He decided to go with the former. The skipper was asked some harsh questions in the recent press conference.
"You've disappointed the cricket fans so much that they've started cursing you. Who will come to see you play in the #NationalT20Cup?" – a journalist to Pak's Captain Sarfraz Ahmed
Irrespective of his form, this was very unprofessional.
[I do not own the rights to this video.] pic.twitter.com/5wzoRPY89r
— Israr Ahmed Hashmi (@IamIsrarHashmi) October 14, 2019
So, when the pressure became unbearable, Sarfaraz resigned.
A journalist had already posted a tweet about Sarfaraz’s resign before it was officially announced.
Reports state Sarfaraz Ahmed has decided not to captain Sindh at the National T20 Cup as he is upset after he was asked tough questions at a recent press conference #Cricket #NationalT20Cup
— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) October 14, 2019
The news, however, turned out to be true. Sarfaraz was not seen leading the Sindh team in Sunday’s match of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. He was really upset at the question of the journalist which despite being true was taken as being very unprofessional. So, Sarfaraz refused to captain the team of Sindh. In that case, Asad Shafiq was the new captain for the team.
Under the captaincy of Asad Shafique, Sindh won the match against Central Punjab which was being led by Babar Azam. Sindh remained successful in chasing down the target of 189 runs in the second last delivery.
Asad Shafique and Sarfaraz in partnership scored 49 runs off just 20 deliveries. While Asad scoring a total of 45 runs in the inning and Sarfaraz scored 30.
Earlier in a statement, Sarfaraz told the players that National T20 could be an opportunity to prove themselves. This will prove as a path to make their way to the upcoming tour of Australia.
