Sarfaraz Ahmed: Former Pakistan captain's most controversial decisions

Under fire Pakistan captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed has been stripped of captaincy from both Tests and T20Is. Babar Azam has been named the T20I captain while Azhar Ali has been named the test captain. The move comes after Pakistan’s dismal performance in the World Cup followed by the home series disappointment versus Sri Lanka. The change comes in exactly a year before the T20 World Cup in Australia. We look at Sarfaraz’s top controversial decisions.

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The decision to Bowl vs India.

The build-up to an India Pakistan clash is always high. With so many emotions involved, it is always a game that can make or break one’s career. Pakistan's world cup winning captain and current Prime Minister Imran Khan on the eve of the game had some advice to give to his compatriot. He asked Sarfaraz Ahmed to field an extra batsman and win the toss and elect to bat. Sarfaraz ignored both those calls of advice and lost the game by 89 runs. His decision to bat second was particularly baffling, considering that the pitch was slowing down bringing the Indian spinners into play. Also considering the fact that Pakistan have never been able chasers and have performed better while defending scores, this clearly was a brain fade moment for Sarfaraz.

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Continued Selection of Wahab Riaz in the XI

Pakistan, in the final 15 man squad for the World Cup, recalled left-arm pacers Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz to the team. While the former set the tournament on fire, the same cannot be said of the latter. Wahab was generally ineffective except in the games versus South Africa and minnows Afghanistan. Yet, Sarfaraz continued fielding Wahab in the playing XI over Shaheen Afridi, who picked up ten wickets in the last two games. Shaheen picked up more wickets in the tournament than Wahab despite playing three games less.

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Racial Abuse

Probably the lowest point of Sarfaraz Ahmed’s captaincy reign was when he was banned after racially abusing South African all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo. In the second ODI during Pakistan tour of South Africa, Phehlukwayo first starred with the ball picking up 4/22 and followed with a career best 69*. Ahmed was caught on the stump mic making a racial slur against Phehlukwayo. He was banned for 4 games missing the next two ODIs and the first two T20Is of the tour. 

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