Did Mickey Aurther reach out to Sarfaraz Ahmed for ICC World Cup?

Pakistan's former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has not been contacted so far about participating in the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup by Mickey Arthur — the newly-appointed director of the Pakistan team — sources told GeoSuper.tv.

Earlier this week, several reports claimed that Arthur had reached out to Sarfaraz regarding the tournament in India later this year.

Denying these rumours, sources close to the former captain confirmed to GeoSuper.tv that no such contact had been made.

On Wednesday, during a press conference at Karachi's National Bank Stadium, Sarfaraz responded to a query about his wish to play World Cup in India this year.

"Do you wish to play World Cup this year?" he was asked.

The former skipper responded: "As long as I am playing, there is always a wish to play."

"I want to play cricket," he added.

Sarfaraz is one of the most successful captains of Pakistan. He remained the national side captain from 2016 to 2019. Under his captaincy and Arthur's coaching, Pakistan won its first-ever Champions Trophy in 2017. Also, he led Pakistan to record 11 consecutive T20I series wins.

The wicketkeeper-batter also captained Pakistan in ICC World Cup 2019. However, he was removed from captaincy later that year after Pakistan were whitewashed in a T20I series at the hands of Sri Lanka.

Thereafter, he remained a part of Pakistan's Test squad but had to wait for four years to return to the playing XI. Earlier this year, Sarfaraz made his Test comeback during the home series against New Zealand. He scored a match-saving century to register a strong comeback.