What lies ahead for Sarfaraz Ahmed?

[MenInG]

Once:

Pakistan's Under-19 World Cup winning captain
Pakistan's Champions Trophy winning captain
Lead Quetta Gladiators to PSL title
Captained Pakistan in all formats of the game
Considered "Oxygen" of the team by Misbah at one time.


Now:

Sacked as captain in all formats of the game
Pakistan's second choice keeper
Unable to find a stable place in the Pakistan side in all formats
Questions raised on his ability to lead Quetta Gladiators in PSL


So where does Sarfaraz Ahmed go from here?

To me its a matter of time before he will not feature in any squad for Pakistan so at age 34, the writing does seem to be on the wall for Sarfaraz. I fear that he will continue to exist in the Domestic cricket universe with an occasional good performance and a media statement here or there. And that's about it.

His captaincy was never a great advertisement for the job and his faux pas in South Africa and run-ins with players etc have left a legacy that is not entirely that great.

So where does he go from here?

 

[MenInG]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 1987. Sarfaraz Ahmed was born in Karachi.<br><br>PSL Winning Captain <br>Champions Trophy Winning Captain <br>Under-19 World Cup Winning Captain <br>Youngest cricketer to receive Sitara-e-Imtiaz <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y8BETYHs8Z">pic.twitter.com/Y8BETYHs8Z</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1396008180220633091?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 22, 2021</a></blockquote>
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[Mamoon]

His corpse will be dragged along on a few more tours before he is unceremoniously buried by Rohail.

 

[Saj]

Despite him being a patriotic person, he can't be enjoying what's happening at the moment.

Carrying the drinks and towels around the world as one of the back-up players cannot be rewarding or indeed any benefit to a player who once lead in a all formats.

He is putting on a brave face, but inside he must be hurting.

 

[El Generico]

He has had a pretty successful career and was probably one of the more successful Pakistani captains in history going by his trophy cabinet. Should retire now though and focus on the Quetta gladiators.

 

[PakHammer]

Kinda ironic in his peak, Misbah described him as the oxygen of the team with his lower order test batting. Now that role is firmly Rizwan's being the oxygen of the team.

Like most Pakistan cricketers reaching the end of the career, he wont go gracefully and hold up a spot for somebody younger like Rohail.

 

[ahmedzee]

I feel he has a role to play as a wicketkeeper and middle order batsman in ODI's and T20s. He can still play with Rizwan in the side.

 

[asadee]

One thing's for sure all the guys who played in his team still give him a lot of respect as you can see from the birthday wishes today. Minus Hafeez of course

 

[MesonK]

Even at his prime he cant even dream to replace Rizwan the Demon, let alone at current age and fitness.

Best for him is to leave the place for a youngster middle order batsman.

 

[MesonK]

One thing's for sure all the guys who played in his team still give him a lot of respect as you can see from the birthday wishes today. Minus Hafeez of course &#55357;&#56834;

They do not want to be in gun sight of Sarfraz backing media men (4-5 low lives).

 

[UzmanBeast]

Babar playing Sarfaraz in that last ODI against South Africa did show us that the management isn't done with him yet.

He will perhaps have this PSL to prove his worth with the bat, otherwise, the road is over for him in Pakistan colours.

 

[zain41]

babar respects sarfaraz alot and hes been the one who has been asking for his inclusion in the squad

 

[Saj]

Babar playing Sarfaraz in that last ODI against South Africa did show us that the management isn't done with him yet.

He will perhaps have this PSL to prove his worth with the bat, otherwise, the road is over for him in Pakistan colours.

I wonder if it was a token appearance to keep the senior player happy and on-side with them.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

As long as the lobby is there for him, he will stay in Pakistan's team like a termite.

 

[SangasCoverDrive]

I feel he has a role to play as a wicketkeeper and middle order batsman in ODI's and T20s. He can still play with Rizwan in the side.

Is Rizwan a bad keeper? definitely not. Then why waste a spot on someone like Sarfraz who can't field and is getting worse. Why not play someone like Saud Shakeel instead?

 

[Farabi]

Once:

Pakistan's Under-19 World Cup winning captain
Pakistan's Champions Trophy winning captain
Lead Quetta Gladiators to PSL title
Captained Pakistan in all formats of the game
Considered "Oxygen" of the team by Misbah at one time.


Now:

Sacked as captain in all formats of the game
Pakistan's second choice keeper
Unable to find a stable place in the Pakistan side in all formats
Questions raised on his ability to lead Quetta Gladiators in PSL


So where does Sarfaraz Ahmed go from here?

To me its a matter of time before he will not feature in any squad for Pakistan so at age 34, the writing does seem to be on the wall for Sarfaraz. I fear that he will continue to exist in the Domestic cricket universe with an occasional good performance and a media statement here or there. And that's about it.

His captaincy was never a great advertisement for the job and his faux pas in South Africa and run-ins with players etc have left a legacy that is not entirely that great.

So where does he go from here?

View attachment 109220

Sarfaraz is back-up wicket keeper. He should be kept around the team to keep Rizwan honest and continue performing.
We need to go beyond thinking about who plays in 11. Pakistan should start thinking about building a pool of 30-40 players. Competition breeds performance and is directly responsible for Rizwan improving and getting where he is today because he needed to be better than Sarfaraz to get into the team.

 

[TeamPak95]

The road ahead for Sarfraz looks bleak. In hindsight, his deterioration as a player began post CT17 when he kept demoting himself in the batting order which eventually affected his batting moving forward.

 

[sabre1486]

i do not get the vitriol against sarfaraz that i see sometimes on here. He has been a model professional, lost his place did not throw tantrums, did not play politics under the replacement captain's reign. Media folks sometimes advocate for him unnecessarily - that is not his fault. He cannot carry the can for someone else's actions.

He is going to be a back-up keeper barring major injury or loss of form to Rizwan (all it takes is one bad day for a longer term injury). there are so many situations where an elder pro helps out in the dug-out you see that in football as well. I do not understand why not being first choice is taken to be a personal insult by fans and media alike in our cricketing culture. Its toxic.

Clearly he is still well liked by his ex-charges guys like shadab hassan and shaheen and babar were wishing him on his birthday.

 

[wajid]

Seems like those who know him and played under him still respect him a lot. But PCT fans are suspicious because of past history of player and region politics.

 

[Runner Up]

Those who think Sarfaraz is finished will be disappointed. He is a fighter and will come back stronger. Mark my words.

 

[MesonK]

Those who think Sarfaraz is finished will be disappointed. He is a fighter and will come back stronger. Mark my words.

Fighter Sahab is weaker batsman then allrounders in the squad (do not make me pull out detailed stats). With Rizwan in, he can't keep either so how does he fit in the squad? We have a weak middle order where we need rock solid dedicated batsmen not Sarfraz. Sarfraz as a flawed technique batsman that he as always been is ruining careers of Rohail Nazir and Saud Shakeel right now and nothing else.

As a weak player, he is on ventilator run by 4-5 media men who sit on channels and badmouth Rizwan after his 80s and 90s every other day so that they can somehow fit Sarfraz in.

 

[hitthestump]

Those who think Sarfaraz is finished will be disappointed. He is a fighter and will come back stronger. Mark my words.

He's 34 years old. If he manages to displace Rizwan now purely on merit it'll be one of the most astonishing comebacks in the history of sport.

Also i did notice your location

 

[Hasan123]

Hopefully retirement.

 

[Officer Barbrady]

He’s captaining a PSL team, in decent batting form, remains a backup option for Pakistan, still has a National contract and is getting paid well. It’s actually not a bad place to be and perhaps he has that perspective. Hope he has a good PSL.

I do agree that Pakistan should look to Rohail and Azam Khan as backups but I don’t mind them carrying Sarfraz instead if the backup keeper isn’t actually going to play (rather those guys play FC for experience).

 

[UzmanBeast]

I wonder if it was a token appearance to keep the senior player happy and on-side with them.

Could possibly have been to silence the media as well.

 

[Firebat]

PSL 2021: Sarfaraz Ahmed Reportedly Disappointed With PCB After Being Denied Permission To Fly To Abu Dhabi

Quetta Gladiators skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed expressed his unhappiness with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after he and several others were denied permission to enter Abu Dhabi for PSL 2021. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) aims to restart the tournament in the first week of June after postponing it indefinitely in March due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Sarfaraz Ahmed and ten others were left stranded at the airport.

Sarfaraz Ahmed was supposed to fly to Abu Dhabi in the wee hours of Sunday morning. But the clearance issues denied him permission, resulting in his return to the hotel. According to some media reports from Pakistan, on Saturday night, the PCB revealed that 16 people would be travelling to Abu Dhabi on a commercial flight. Nevertheless, only five, including Mohammad Hasnain, received an allowance to board it, while Sarfaraz Ahmed and ten others were left behind at the airport.

But a report in arysports.tv claimed that the travel documents of the people stranded in Karachi and Lahore are now done. The PCB awaits Abu Dhabi Sports Council’s approval so the players could fly there. It also further reported that the Gladiators’ owner Nadeem Omer holds the PCB responsible for the incident, but have not called them out publicly, considering it might affect the competition’s reputation. The PCB has an uphill task to schedule the event as soon as possible, given that the national team is scheduled to leave for England on the 22nd of June to play three ODIs and as many T20Is.

The major factor that let us down was fielding: Sarfaraz Ahmed

Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Ahmed has blamed their struggles in PSL 2021 to their lacklustre fielding, claiming it let them down massively. The former Pakistan skipper said they missed plenty of catches and run-outs at crucial junctures, contributing to their losses. The Gladiators are at the sixth spot with one victory in five games.

https://cricket.yahoo.net/news/psl-2021-sarfaraz-ahmed-reportedly-060836804

 

[Yasir_ch]

This guy should have been dumped a long time ago but he is still in the team wasting a spot.He should be kicked out as soon as possible.One of the worst player ever.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Just a dip in form for Rizwan, fans are very impatient enough to call back Sarfraz.

 

[MRSN]

Sarfraz has an attitude of some ATG batsman and ATG captain. This is an incredible effort by PCB in tough times to make possible something that was tough.

This also shows why he keeps fighting and showing frustration behind the stumps as a skipper. He has zero discipline.

 

[shamaan]

This guy should have been dumped a long time ago but he is still in the team wasting a spot.He should be kicked out as soon as possible.One of the worst player ever.

Pakistan didn't have any back ups then.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

He was a very good test wicketkeeper bat till 2017.

 

[MenInG]

The good old days for Sarfaraz

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/OnThisDay?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#OnThisDay</a> in 2017. In a tense match in Cardiff, an excellent bowling performance and Sarfaraz Ahmed's 61 not out helped Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 3 wickets and reach the semi-finals of the Champions Trophy <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/roWEwziLHE">pic.twitter.com/roWEwziLHE</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1403712007912689669?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2021</a></blockquote>
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[moghul]

What's next for Sarfraz,

Go home and spend time with family and do something other than cricket to earn your living.