Sarfaraz to remain captain: Inzamam

DUBAI: The Pakistan Cricket Chief Selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq, has rejected all the speculations about captaincy changes being on the cards.

Talking to Geo News exclusively, Inzamam expressed his confidence in the current skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed and praised the skipper’s leadership skills. The chief selector was witnessing Pakistan A Team match against Australian A team at the ICC Academy Dubai. “There is no question over Sarfaraz Ahmed’s captaincy,” he recalled the thumping victory in the ICC Champions trophy. He acknowledged: “The captain and his team mates have defeated Australian cricket team in Zimbabwe.”

Sarfaraz Ahmed has been retained as the captain of Pakistan cricket team in all the three formats. He was named Pakistan's ODI Captain in February 2017 after Azhar Ali stepped down. Inzamam-ul-Haq stated that the team performance is an “eye opener” for the selection committee but expressed the hope that the team would display better skills in the future series. The chief selector said: “No one owns when the team performed below expectations”, and added, “but whenever they achieve victory, everyone owns them.”

He admitted that the performance in Asia Cup was alarming and below par but expressed the hope that the team including skipper Sarfaraz will once again lift the hopes of the nation.

Pakistan cricket team is kicking-off its long home-series in the United Arab Emirates against Australia and New Zealand from Oct 2018.