KARACHI: Pakistan T20 captain Shahid Afridi on Wednesday lashed out at a section of media for criticising him over the decision to drop in-form wicket-keeper/batsman Sarfraz Ahmed in the recently held T20 series in Sri Lanka.
Sarfraz for the last year or so has been in great form both as wicket-keeper and batsman. Therefore, axing him from the two T20s against top-ranked Sri Lanka astonished many fans and critics, and the decision was criticised on several media platforms.
Moreover, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan and the Board’s executive committee chief Najam Sethi have also questioned and sought explanation from the national touring team management, of which Afridi is also part, for dropping Sarfraz.
“I have learned that [some] people who analyse and comment on cricket in media are very narrow-minded. We rested Sarfraz [for the Sri Lanka T20s] only to experiment with other players,” Afridi told reporters here.
However, there is a general feeling that since 28-year-old Sarfraz is the vice-captain of national ODI and T20 sides, he should be part of the decision-makers and therefore must be picked in top matches in order to start building a synergy and more importantly to bring the team leadership at the same wavelength.
“The team is at the moment in building process since we have World T20 coming up. So we are taking decisions keeping in mind the mega event and preparing and experimenting for it accordingly,” Afridi stated.
“We will make all-out efforts to prepare and build a strong team for next year’s World Twenty20.”
National selection committee chief Haroon Rasheed has reportedly told a newspaper recently that Sarfraz would be given chance to captain the T20 side in international matches leading up to the World T20.
Afridi, however, dispelled that impression, saying Haroon meant that Sarfraz would be given chance in side matches and would be groomed as future skipper.
“Haroon has been misquoted. He said Sarfraz may be given chance to captain the team in side matches to prepare him for future. And I welcome that decision to groom a captain with the team’s future in mind,” Afridi said.
The swashbuckling all-rounder also tried to consolidate his stance, saying that he never ran after captaincy, rather captaincy had followed him and there was no case of him fighting for securing captaincy.
Meanwhile, Afridi lauded young all-rounder Anwar Ali, who played well in the recent Sri Lanka ODI series besides inspiring Pakistan to a thrilling one-wicket win against Sri Lanka in the second T20 with a whirlwind 17-ball 46.
Afridi also praised legendary Wasim Akram for supervising a fast bowlers’ camp in Karachi, emphasising “such programmes would certainly help find and groom talented young bowlers”.
In jest, Afridi said: “[Some of] our former batsmen only want to coach the national side, which is a lucrative affair, and are not interested in exploring talent as Wasim is doing.
“So, he should be hailed for doing a very good and important job.”
