Pakistan's T20 captain, Shahid Afridi and head coach Waqar Younis have come under fire after deciding to "rest" wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed from the first T20 international against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Pakistan's T20 captain, Shahid Afridi and head coach Waqar Younis have come under fire after deciding to "rest" wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed from the first T20 international against Sri Lanka in Colombo.
Pakistan's former captains and keepers, Rashid Latif and Moin Khan both termed the decision to sideline Sarfaraz as a grave injustice.
"I don't know what is going on because I don't see any cricketing logic behind not playing Sarfaraz. If the Pakistan captain and team management have some plan behind this decision it is best they share it publicly," Latif said.
But the former captain made it clear whatever the reason for not playing Sarfaraz, the plucky player would still make a strong comeback whenever he got the chance.
"He is doing the right thing by keeping quiet and replying only with his performances. But this is a grave injustice being done to him and it is not good for Pakistan cricket," Latif said. Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 29 runs in the T20 match last night.
Latif said he had spoken to former teammate Waqar Younis on a number of occasions since he became coach last year. "I get the impression he is hesitant and uncertain about certain things.
"I don't know which team decides to rest an inform player in the first match of a fresh series." Moin also didn't mince any words in criticizing the ouster of Sarfaraz.
"This is just not the way to treat a player who has been the driving force in recent matches and who has won you several matches in all formats since last year," he said.
"I see no reason for not playing Sarfaraz and displacing him as the team's number one keeper. The team management could easily enough have dropped some other player if they had any plan in mind. But to even ask
Sarfaraz to make sacrifices all the time is not fair or acceptable at all," he said. Moin, who was chief selector until the World Cup this year, said the amazing part was that Sarfaraz was also vice-captain of the ODI and T20 teams.
"It means that either the Pakistan cricket board took the wrong decision to appoint him as vice-captain or the team management is wrong," he added.
Moin also called on the PCB Chairman to take notice of the injustice being done time and again with Sarfaraz.
Sarfaraz became the main talking point during the World Cup when the team management didn't play him in the first four matches leading to widespread criticism in Pakistan and the PCB Chairman having to intervene in selection issues.
Eventually when the management played Sarfaraz for the first time in the World Cup against South Africa as an opener he was man of the match and also notched up a hundred against Ireland to again win the MOM award.
Even in Bangladesh in April, the team management decided to rest Sarfaraz from the last ODI match.
Pakistan's former test opener and ex-head coach Mohsin Khan also expressed apprehension that by resting him for no solid reason the management could destroy Sarfaraz's confidence. "It makes no sense to rest him at this stage when he is your prime match winner."
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