Javed Miandad: “He is doing a good job as skipper”

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Legendary Pakistan batsman Javed Miandad has supported the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to retain Sarfraz Ahmed as captain.

Miandad is the latest person to back Sarfraz to lead the national team after head coach Mickey Arthur.

Prior to PCB chairman Ehsan Mani confirming that Sarfraz will captain Pakistan at the World Cup later this year, there had been speculation that he would be replaced as skipper.

This came about after Sarfraz was handed a four-match ban by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for his controversial comment to South Africa all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo during the recently concluded ODI series.

In the 37th over of the second ODI in Durban, the broadcast stump mic picked up Sarfraz speaking in Urdu.

The 31-year-old was heard saying: “Abey kaale, teri ammi aaj kahaan baitheen hain? Kya parwa ke aaye hai aaj?”.

Translated into English, it means: “Hey black guy, where’s your mother sitting today? What [prayer] have you got her to say for you today?”

Miandad admitted that Sarfraz shouldn’t have made a remark like that, but insisted that he is the best person to lead the national team since there aren’t any other qualified candidates.

“Yes Sarfraz committed a wrong act [of passing a racist remark against an opposing player] in South Africa for which he faced the punishment. Otherwise, he is doing a good job as skipper,” Miandad was quoted as saying by Dawn. “Moreover, frankly speaking, Pakistan currently does not have a good number of options as far as the captaincy is concerned. The PCB should seriously think to address this issue in order to avoid any awkward situations in the future.”