The only thing Sarfraz has proven so far is that he is better than Jamshed and Younis, that's about it. Why don't we wait for a little longer, considering the fact that has been very mediocre over the length of ODI career and has played almost 40 matches already, and prior to the Ireland game has been found wanting in terms of converting his starts, kept throwing his wicket away.
A couple of failures and you'll see threads like ''we need specialists openers'' etc.
First of all, winning back to back man of the match awards in World Cup games, and that too the debut games (and almost knock-outs) isn't something that happens all the time. It needs to be appreciated, and it'll be remembered for long time, regardless of what happens from here on. Add in the fact that he fills in two roles for Pakistan and both very competently, then it's a huge development for Pakistan cricket. It's like getting a young and taller Tasleem Arif or Imtiaz Ahmed. Comparing his keeping to what Akmal offers is laughable.
As for the length of Sarfraz's career, we all know how he was handled in the early years. For the first 25 or so games he played (spread out over four years) he didn't even bat in 12, and was not-out in three or four occasions. How can you judge anyone's worth, with this kind of haphazard career? In fact, I take it back. For me, one game was enough to judge Sarfraz' worth in the team, and that was the Asia Cup ODI final in 2012, where he took the usual disastrous-Pakistan-collapse-in-the-final, batted with the tail for 100+ runs, hitting almost a 50* in a game which Pakistan won by one run. This was the type of performance in a pressure-situation, which cements someone's place in a cricket team, but if anything his detractors added more to their chants about how they perceived his demeanor to be cowardly and timid, and how he should be thrown out. Within 2-3 games of that Asia Cup final, he was thrown out, only to return an year later.
Even in this thread, someone has posted about how cowardly he was in the series against South Africa. That person apparently didn't see his last test innings there against Steyn, Philander and Abbott, when he scored run a ball 40 in a test innings where the entire top order of Pakistan made 60-70 runs combined. Promptly, he was dropped and Adnan Akmal came in against Zimbabwe, and the South Africa series in UAE, and actually averaged less than what Sarfraz did in South Africa, and yet was selected against SL. Sarfraz finally got his first chance in UAE, when Adnan Akmal got injured, and hit 70 odd runs followed by the match winning performance in the amazing World record test match chase and then never looked back.
My point is that Sarfraz talent was almost always evident, whether it was the Asia Cup final, or that one odd inning in Centurion, or the sustained and amazing run in both test and ODIs in the last 12 months. Unfortunately for him, he is always judged by the "I'll see it, when I believe it" mantra. Whether it's his wicketkeeping or his batting, those detractors revel in any occasional blemish, while ignoring the impressive body of stats and results that Sarfraz has been quietly building for a while now.
Good call [MENTION=135196]waleed88[/MENTION].
