Harsha Bhogle: “It is now up to Sarfaraz to come back into the side and displace the incumbent. The incumbent is now Rizwan, which is very clear”

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Renowned cricket commentator Harsha Bhogle has admitted that Sarfaraz Ahmed faces a tough fight to replace Mohammad Rizwan as Pakistan’s go-to wicketkeeper-batsman.

Sarfaraz has not played for Pakistan since he was sacked as captain in October last year.

In that time, Rizwan has taken his place behind the stumps and done well with the bat as well.

As a result of this, Bhogle noted that it will be difficult for Sarfaraz to regain his spot in the national team, but added that it is not impossible.

Sarfaraz is now expected to make his international comeback during the upcoming series against England, but limited overs captain Babar Azam made it clear that Rizwan is still Pakistan’s first-choice wicketkeeper.

“I always had a lot of time for Sarfaraz as a player. I thought he was a genuine batsman. But in recent times, Rizwan has come along and has got some really good scores in limited-overs cricket. He was part of that big partnership with Babar Azam in Australia, so he has shown that he can play,” Bhogle told the ICC’s digital show Cricket Inside Out as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

“It is now up to Sarfaraz to come back into the side and displace the incumbent. The incumbent is now Rizwan, which is very clear.

“Sarfaraz is a really good player and there is a fighter in him. I always thought that Pakistan cricket didn’t get as much out of Sarfaraz as I thought he was capable of.”

Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests and three T20 Internationals against England, with the first Test starting on August 5 and the T20 series beginning on August 28.

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