Sarfraz Ahmed confident of taking his side to new heights

After a scintillating victory over arch-rival India in the Champion Trophy’s final, Pakistani skipper received a grand welcome back home. Moreover, with the success, he achieved in limited-overs formats as captain, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) offered him Test captaincy and he thus took the baton from Misbah-ul-Haq as the Test skipper.

After having been assigned to lead the team in all three formats, Sarfraz admitted that captaincy in the longest format of the game is a challenge but at the same time is confident that things will get better with time. At a reception held at the Prime Minister’s residence in honour of the thumping victory, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan announced that PCB collectively asked the limited-overs captain Sarfraz to take up Test captaincy which he accepted.

Test Captaincy will be a challenge

Sarfraz looked confident while addressing the media and said, “Test captaincy is a challenge but things will get easier with time.”

While addressing the invited member at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, he put forward the point stating that if International teams can play cricket in England with all the mishappenings, they can definitely visit Pakistan.

“Pakistan cricket has lost a lot owing to an absence of international cricket, and it is time for international teams to recognise us. We have not played cricket at home for the past nine years,” he added.

Meanwhile, the 30-year-old also admitted that it would difficult to fill shoes left by Younis Khan and Misbah who recently played their last Test series against West Indies.

“It would be difficult to replace Misbah and Younis,” Ahmed said while also expressing that batsmen like Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, and Asad Shafiq would step up for the team.

Next Assignment

In the last year and half, Sarfraz has been appointed as full time captain in all three formats. His journey as a captain started when the wicketkeeper-batsman took over from Shahid Afridi in T20 Internationals and Azhar Ali in ODIs. After five long years, Pakistan will have a captain who will lead the side in all three formats.

Sarfraz’s first assignment as Test captain will be against Sri Lanka in the UAE which comprises of three Tests, followed by 5 ODIs and 2 T20I.