Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson hailed his Quetta Gladiators captain Sarfraz Ahmed as a ‘selfless leader’. He has been playing with him in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) and Quetta Gladiators are currently second in the points table under Sarfraz’s leadership.
“Sarfaraz is a very selfless leader. If he feels it’s the right time to go in, he will like he did in the previous games where he batted at 4 or 5. In this game, he felt the right thing was to send in the hitters more who could hit from ball one. He was trusting his instincts.”
Quetta Gladiators have six points in their account so far and they are just below the table toppers Multans Sultans, who have 8 points under their belt. Sarfraz has won the PSL title with Quetta as well.
The Pakistan captain has been a terrific caption since the last few years. He became the first Pakistan captain since the great Imran Khan to win a 50-over world title. Sarfraz took over the ODI captaincy in February 2017, providing his side with rare single-minded direction and focus.
In June that year, Pakistan went into the Champions Trophy as the lowest-ranked team and lost heavily against India to start off, but then went on a red-hot run to beat South Africa, Sri Lanka and hosts England, and finally India to claim the trophy.
Sarfraz came under the spotlight for Pakistan back in 2006 when he led Pakistan U19 to the World Cup title. He scored two half-centuries in that tournament as well and then he broke into domestic cricket, where he scored 523 runs in 10 matches along with 28 dismissals behind the stumps which pushed him into the A team’s tour of Australia in 2007.
However, he lost his way back during that time and then it took seven long years for the spotlight to return to Sarfaraz when he made 74 in Pakistan’s total of 359 in the second innings against Sri Lanka in Dubai. The innings was in a losing cause, but it did establish him as the team’s first-choice wicket-keeper.
