KARACHI: Pakistan’s One-day and T20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed on Saturday said that he had a good understanding with the country’s head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq and every effort will be made to field the best XI in the coming series against Sri Lanka.
“In the past too, the playing XI used to be formed by coach and captain. As far as Misbah is concerned, I have good understanding with him. I have played with him and he was also my captain so hopefully together we will select the best playing XI for Pakistan and will work together,” Sarfraz told a news conference after the first day’s play of the first round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match between Sindh and Balochistan here at the UBL Sports Complex on Saturday.
Sarfraz said that after the World Cup he did not let himself down and was hopeful that good will happen.
“At the end of the ICC World Cup my tenure as captain also came to an end. But I was absolutely relaxed and satisfied and believed that whatever happens will be good as we had tried our level best but results could not come so well,” Sarfraz said. “But the way we went to the camp at Lahore, things seemed positive and I had in mind that good things will happen and everything is before you now,” said the Test stumper.
Sarfraz on Friday was retained by the PCB as One-day and T20 captain.
He said that better communication between the captain and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) top authorities always work.
“The most important thing is communication. If the captain and PCB top authorities keep regular communication, so many things become clear,” Sarfraz said.
“If you talk about World Cup, the PCB was in contact with me regularly. The PCB chairman and Waseem Khan were in contact with me,” he was quick to add.
About his chances of being retained as Test captain, Sarfraz said: “It is premature to say anything about the Test captaincy at this stage because we have to play a One-day International and T20 series in near future. My whole focus is on the Sri Lanka series. We will try to perform better. And after that, whoever the PCB deems best would be made the Test captain,” he said.
Sarfraz said that Babar was a good choice for vice-captaincy which would help him to be groomed.
“It’s good that Babar Azam has been made vice-captain. He will get groomed with the passage of time. I have very good understanding with him because he remains in the slips with me. I will also seek advice from Babar and other players. It’s a good sign that such a person has been made vice-captain who is performing well,” he said.
Sarfraz also sees solid chances for Pakistan in Test Championship if the nation is able to fill some of the vacuum in the team composition.
“I see a lot of strength in the middle order. We have a pack of such solid batsmen who, if perform, can create chance for Pakistan in the Test championship. But we have an issue in bowling as two of our seasoned fast bowlers have decided to skip long format. We will have to seek for bowlers who could take wickets. We need such a spinner with Yasir Shah who could support the seasoned leggie and gets wickets,” he said.
About Sindh’s first day’s performance against Balochistan in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy opener on Saturday, Sarfraz said they would like to put some more runs to bring the rivals under pressure.
“Both our openers played really well today. We will try to put some more runs on the board so that the rivals could be brought under pressure,” he said.