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What will be Sarfaraz Ahmed's legacy in Pakistan cricket?

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zubair16

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This question might be a little premature as he may make a comeback in some shape or form. Also really curious to hear the opinion of people who have followed Pakistan cricket for a while.

So where does Sarfaraz's legacy stand in the history of Pakistan cricket? Does he even have a legacy? How does he rank compared to other WK's, WK-batsmen, captains, etc compare to those of the past? Where does he stand against the likes of Rashid Latif, Moin Khan, Kamran Akmal, Wasim Bari? Would he get into an all time Pakistan XI? Would he captain that XI in a particular format? Very curious to see how people would view in 10 years time. This question(s) should be answered taking emotion out of the context as that would naturally sway certain people's opinions. So the fact that he is not in the team at the moment will help with that.

This is a very open ended question, feel free to discuss. Keep in mind all formats of the game and different eras of the game (e.g. batting strike rates nowadays are generally higher than strike rates 20 years go)
 
I read in some Urdu newspaper that he has made up with PCB and could be back in team in the next series! So legacy?
 
He is probably going to be back in the next LOI series because I think it's pretty clear that Rizwan isn't suited for T20s. So its way too early to talk about his legacy.

But even if his career does end now I think his legacy would be of a captain that knew how to lead his team in big events (ICC U-19 WC win ,CT win and as well as a PSL title).
 
Legacy was CT win, shameful test defeats in UAE vs SL and NZ. A legacy of lifetime membership of eating at archies.
 
Other than CT, there's no legacy and he only has himself to blame for that.
He had the chance to be one of the best Captains but his own performances let him down.
 
Looking back 10 years later no one will recall him hogging a spot as a reserve for 2 years and why he was dropped initially. Everyone will recall his CT17 trophy and those images with trophy he took from London to Buffer Zone.
 
On the plus side he will always be known as the leader of the Champions Trophy 2017 side.

On the downside, he's hung around as a tourist for the last couple of years when he should have stepped aside.
 
Younis Khan was the captain of the World T20 cup yet most do not remember him being part of the squad.

Similarly Safraz did captain the team during the CT but was fortunate enough to be in the team.
 
Saj said:
On the plus side he will always be known as the leader of the Champions Trophy 2017 side.

On the downside, he's hung around as a tourist for the last couple of years when he should have stepped aside.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Also T20 team remained No. 1 for some time under his leadership so little credit to him may be?
 
1. Champion's Trophy 2017.

2. The racist jibe toward Andille Pheklukwayo.

3. Yawning at the India v Pakistan 2019 WC match when he could have ended the streak there itself.

4. Being selected for SENA tours at the start of his career while the Akmal mafia made sure Adnan got the easy UAE games.

5. At his peak, being referred to as "Vice President" of Pakistan while models like Neelam Muneer tried to hit on him.

6. Screaming at his teammates (Pak and PSL) if things didn't go his way, with senior cricketers and foreign players being conspicuous exceptions.

7. Being a waterboy toward the end of his career and getting into spats with other busted flushes like Amir and Hafeez on Twitter.
 
Not much of a legacy other than winning CT 2017.

He was no Imran Khan or Shahid Afridi.
 
Positives:
- Leading Pakistan to glory in U19 WC 2006 and CT 2017
- Leading Pakistan to number 1 T20 ranking
- Lead Quetta Gladiators to winning PSL in 2019
- He was a bit of a revelation when he opened the batting
- He was arguably one of the best WK batsman in the world from 2014-2016
- The beginnings of mauka mauka involving him were pretty funny not gonna lie

Negatives:
- Post-CT17, I felt he demoted himself as a batsman down the order a bit too much hence deteriorating his batting over time and because of this he couldn't become a better batsman than he already was; in a nutshell, he could've been a better batsman imo
- Despite his successes in captaincy, he was a very strict task master who yelled a lot unnecessarily to his players on the field especially the youngsters; if Sarfraz was a player of high performance and stature, perhaps this would be a bit understandable as he would pretty much command respect, but he as a player wasn't that amazing to begin with so it doesn't overall work here as all he's doing is putting extra mental baggage towards his players
- If we're talking non-cricketing moments, then the Pheklukwayo comments and the yawning vs India stand out
- His deteriorating fitness and by the time he rectified that, Rizwan was on the rise

Overall, I would say that Sarfraz Ahmed was a good cricketer for Pakistan who's brought a number of memorable moments. However, I personally felt that he shot himself in the foot from becoming a better player than he was.
 
An average cricketer who played some good knocks in UAE, but was lucky to play too long for Pakistan than he deserved and delayed Rizwan's international career by 3-4 years for no reason.
 
MenInG said:
I read in some Urdu newspaper that he has made up with PCB and could be back in team in the next series! So legacy?
Click to expand...

That's the problem with Pakistan cricketer, all you have to do is just stay in PCB's good books , you will stay in the team and will continue to block a younger keeper, even though you're a useless cricketer now.
 
Overall he has quite a positive legacy. I think he can go down as one of our best ever WK-Batsmen and he is an ICC trophy winning captain.

As a batsman, he scored at a decent clip in test match cricket and had a massive purple patch in 2014 and 2015. This was the first time in a long time that Pakistan had a decent WK batsman and there was a lot of good will towards Sarfraz, particularly as he coffin lid was starting to close on the dreaded Akmal brothers.

I don't view the "racism" incident as a negative as it was massively blown out of proportion, but he took his foot off the gas towards the end of his captaincy which tainted his legacy very slightly.
 
moghul said:
That's the problem with Pakistan cricketer, all you have to do is just stay in PCB's good books , you will stay in the team and will continue to block a younger keeper, even though you're a useless cricketer now.
Click to expand...

The problem is with the PCB and not the player. They should boot him out, you can't really blame him for the fact he is selected.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
The problem is with the PCB and not the player. They should boot him out, you can't really blame him for the fact he is selected.
Click to expand...

You're right, it was a typo, I meant problem with Pakistan cricket ( not cricketer ).
 
A very good talent in regards to captaincy who has managed to win both the U19 world cup and 2017 CT. However, people will also remember him for getting carried away with the CT win by becoming complacent and thinking that shouting at his team mates on the field will get results. His wicket keeping had declined and he was hiding down the batting lineup. Hypothetically speaking, if 4 runs were required with 1 ball remaining he'd be the type of guy to let Chris Martin have a go at smashing the ball instead of him. The complacency has ruined his reputation and legacy since he ended up losing game after game, his reputation got tarnished further after he racially abused a South African player. His lazy attitude in the 2019 WC was the icing on the cake.
 
Varun said:
1. Champion's Trophy 2017.

2. The racist jibe toward Andille Pheklukwayo.

3. Yawning at the India v Pakistan 2019 WC match when he could have ended the streak there itself.

4. Being selected for SENA tours at the start of his career while the Akmal mafia made sure Adnan got the easy UAE games.

5. At his peak, being referred to as "Vice President" of Pakistan while models like Neelam Muneer tried to hit on him.

6. Screaming at his teammates (Pak and PSL) if things didn't go his way, with senior cricketers and foreign players being conspicuous exceptions.

7. Being a waterboy toward the end of his career and getting into spats with other busted flushes like Amir and Hafeez on Twitter.
Click to expand...

Interesting post.

One correction, he had issue with Hafeez on twitter, Aamir supported him as he himself had issues with Hafeez in the past.

And never knew, Neelam Muneer thing....:irfan
 
Goods:
-Winning 2017 champions trophy
-Winning some meaningless T20's in a row (still a record tho)
-Played good innings in some matches where required

Bads:
-Losing too many tests matches even in UAE
-Shouting on junior and weak players when things go out of control
-No control/No personality
 
A fairly decent one if it weren't for the "abe kaale" comments. He was a vital part of the team that reached #1 in tests and led Pakistan to an icc trophy. Fairly uncontroversial player as well by Pakistani standards. I tend to be sympathetic towards him as I dont think he even meant to be racist to Andile . Unfortunately, he did not have the personality/charisma and, latterly, even the performances to command any respect. A very sad demise to his career
 
Underappreciated cricketer.
He gave everything to Pakistan but was sidelined in a bitter way.
His replacement Rizwan is much superior to him, hence a chance of comeback seems to be very odd. But his contributions as a captain and test batsman in such a little career deserves respect.
 
He could have become Pakistan's best limited overs keeper batsman, had he not got the captaincy burden.
 
Now comparing with other keepers in recent history of Pakistan cricket.

Latif, Moeen and now Rizwan were/are far better batsmen and keepers than Sarfraz.

Sarfraz was a better keeper than Akmal in his early years but his keeping deteriorated to Akmla standard ( which is very low ) in later years . As a batsman , Akmal was one of the better batsman among the keepers in Pakistan's history and Sarfraz was not even close to him .
 
moghul said:
Now comparing with other keepers in recent history of Pakistan cricket.

Latif, Moeen and now Rizwan were/are far better batsmen and keepers than Sarfraz.

Sarfraz was a better keeper than Akmal in his early years but his keeping deteriorated to Akmla standard ( which is very low ) in later years . As a batsman , Akmal was one of the better batsman among the keepers in Pakistan's history and Sarfraz was not even close to him .
Click to expand...

Kami was an amazing batsman for a very small purple patch and his dip in batting coincided with his poor keeping.

From the keepers I have seen I would rank as following.

I would rank them as Moin, Rizwan, Sarfraz, Rashid and then Kami in terms of batting,keeping and overall impact on the side.

Rashif was the best overall glovesman though.
 
- The way he played vs South Africa in that 2015 world cup game. After being inserted in to revive the side.

- 2017 champions trophy; especially Lanka innings.

-not doing justice to his career and letting himself and the fans down like many of our cricketers in 2010-2020 period.
 
DeadlyVenom said:
Kami was an amazing batsman for a very small purple patch and his dip in batting coincided with his poor keeping.

From the keepers I have seen I would rank as following.

I would rank them as Moin, Rizwan, Sarfraz, Rashid and then Kami in terms of batting,keeping and overall impact on the side.

Rashif was the best overall glovesman though.
Click to expand...

Do you really know anything about Rashid ? after Bari, he has been the best keeper in Pakistan's history. Its not a matter of opinion, just poor knowledge of the game if you don't rank him high.
 
moghul said:
Do you really know anything about Rashid ? after Bari, he has been the best keeper in Pakistan's history. Its not a matter of opinion, just poor knowledge of the game if you don't rank him high.
Click to expand...

Yes - I agree he was the best gloves man but in terms of WK & batting I would put him number 4.
 
A poor captain and a mediocre cricketer who happened to be leading the side when they won the CT.
 
moghul said:
Never knew a gloves man and WK are two different things .
Click to expand...

Sorry that post got submitted and I never had time to edit.

What I meant was Rashid was the best gloves man but when you take both keeping and batting into account he is quite a bit down the list compared to the others. I personally always preferred Moins scintillating batting at the time and Safraz & Rizwan are also so far ahead in batting, that I would take any of them in a side before Rashid (despite his superiority as a wk)
 
He is an icc trophy winning captain. This is enough for legacy.
He has played some good inns in Tests for Pak and ensured fairly competitive team during his tenure in all home or SC series
 
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