Pakistan Captain Babar Azam who is enjoying his fantastic ride as skipper of the national side in the ongoing South African series where Men in Green recently won the concluded ODI series against Proteas on the latter backyard.
As Mohammad Rizwan is the first choice wicketkeeper-batsman for the national team there has been a lot of questions which has been raised about the inclusion of former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed in the side who has received a very less game time in the national color after being in the team.
When a question was asked by the media in reference to Sarfaraz Ahmed not playing consistently in the side and only included in the last ODI to which Pakistan skipper replied that we have included him in the side because we trust in his abilities and his services towards Pakistan cricket. An experienced player like him in our ODI squad will strengthen our middle order which is the need of an hour.
“The only thought behind this selection was the fact that we had lot of experience in Sarfaraz sitting on the bench and we wanted to utilize that. There’s a gap in our middle order where we are missing a particular kind of player we are trying to fill, which is why we brought Sarfaraz in to try and plug that weakness,” Azam was quoted as saying by PakPassion.
With the way Rizwan has played in the last few over for Pakistan, it is ideally difficult for Ahmed to play all three formats for the national side. But with the way the skipper has shown confidence in Ahmed, it seems that the latter will be the regular member of 50 over format for Pakistan.
“Sarfaraz Ahmed is in the team with us because we trust in his abilities, and we will try and utilize him in ODIs as a wicketkeeper and batsman at the number 5 position as it suits him best. That is also the position which needs a batsman to move the innings and that is what we were lacking in the previous 2 matches where the middle order was really struggling.”
“I’m very confident with the side. I’m very happy with the top order performing in a difficult place like South Africa. It gives us a lot of confidence, and we want to keep this momentum going,” he stated. The team was able to convert Babar Azam’s desire of keeping the “momentum going” as Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the T20I series at Johannesburg on 10th April. The two sides will meet in the second game on 12th April at the same venue.
