Twitter lashes out at Sarfraz Ahmed for bagging a duck in the first Test against South Africa

Pakistan visited South Africa for a long tour with the Test series to be played. The rainbow nation is by no means an easy country to play Test cricket and the Sarfraz Ahmed-led side must’ve already realised it. They opted to bat first after winning the toss on the Boxing Day in Centurion and the surface was not at all easy to bat with the hosts’ bowlers breathing fire. Moreover, Sarfraz Ahmed, their skipper, also failed to lead from the front and bagged a duck.

Pakistan batsmen looked unsure about their shot selection and the likes Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier and Dale Steyn proved to be too good for them. The tourists seemed to be under some sort of pressure having lost a home series against New Zealand in the UAE. Before coming to South Africa, there was a lot of deliberation over Sarfraz’s captaincy in the longest format and yet another failure has only increased the criticism.

Poor form with the bat

Sarfraz Ahmed has been struggling with the bat in Tests especially. Apart from a brilliant knock here and there the Pakistan captain hasn’t been able to lead from the front. His struggles continued in South Africa as well and Olivier castled him. He never got used to the pace of the pitch and was undone by the on-fire Olivier for a four-ball duck. He left his team reeling at 86/6 in the 29th over.

As far as Sarfraz’s Test career is concerned, he has scored 2545 runs in 47 Test matches at a decent average of 37.43 with three centuries and 16 half-centuries. But on the contrary, he has managed to muster only 337 runs in nine matches at a mediocre average of only 25.92 which proves that the cricketer is not having an auspicious outing in the whites this year.

It will be interesting to see how Sarfraz approaches the second innings now as there will be a lot of pressure on him to perform.

Here’s how Twitter reacted to Sarfraz’s failure:

Sarfraz Ahmed is not a bad captain but a captain cannot command respect without performing. His average this year is only 25.92. He needs to step up his game otherwise calls to bring in Rizwan will get louder. #RSAvPak

— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) December 26, 2018

Dinesh Chandimal and Sarfraz Ahmed how both of them are in the team and captaining is harder to understand than theory of relativity #SAvPAK

— y so serious (@vinayguptakiet1) December 26, 2018

Did you know?
Mohammad Amir has played almost 600 balls more in overseas than Sarfraz Ahmed. Sarfaraz Ahmed has played 1086 balls in 34 innings, 31.94 balls every innings whereas Amir has played 1640 balls in 48 innings, 34.17 balls every inning.#SAvPAK

— Sarim Raza Zaidi (@SarimRazaZaidi1) December 26, 2018

Sarfraz Ahmed gone for a DUCK 🐣 again!

His form in SENA Countries and Ireland (most recent first): 0, 14, 8, 9, 20, 8, 18, 72*, 10, 43, 59*, 24, 41, 19, 7, 2

Failed to score more than 20 in 11 of his last 16 innings. #SAvPAK

— Israr Ahmed Hashmi (@IamIsrarHashmi) December 26, 2018

Walking wicket #sarfrazAhmed
Truck load of verbal shitting when he's behind the stumps , infront of stumps he's himself that truck load !#PAKvSA

— Ammar Khalid (@AmmarKh444) December 26, 2018

All sarfraz ahmed can do is block the ball and get out on a duck and say Aja! Aja!

— shahjahan naseem (@shahjahan2124) December 26, 2018

Sarfraz Ahmed as usual leading from the front.

— Abhishek (@Sajjanlaunda) December 26, 2018

Sarfraz Ahmed is utterly useless. Disgrace of a batsman #SAvPAK

— B. (@LallyZeez) December 26, 2018

Pakistan's batting in tests outside Asia revolves around only two players – shafiq and Azhar Ali , if both fails , they would get all out under 200. Legend sarfraz Ahmed is just a player of words than action #SAvPAK

— srikrishna 🏏 (@1998Srikrishna) December 26, 2018

Wicketkeeper captains are most vulnerable in Test Cricket these days.
Tim Paine. Sarfraz Ahmed.

— Niroj Gunner (@lotuseaterking) December 26, 2018

Mickey Arthur tried to hoodwink everyone by claiming his team can bat well abroad, exposed in the first innings abroad. Asad Shafiq, Imam and Sarfaraz need to be replaced. Give #FawadAlam atleast 10 tests

— HAS (@has_hoshearpuri) December 26, 2018

Is it only Baber's responsibility to bat? Sarfaraz has to seriously enchance his performance. I hope this one will be the last series for Imam.#PAKvSA

— Hammad (@Hammad92607219) December 26, 2018

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