Usman Shinwari: “I think he ruined his batting career in captaincy. He remained captain for four years and was ousted because of this”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Usman Shinwari, the Pakistan left-arm pace bowler, believes the captaincy ruined Sarfaraz Ahmed’s batting.
Sarfaraz captained Pakistan from 2016 to 2019, during which the team enjoyed some major highs, including winning the 2017 Champions Trophy.
However, Shinwari feels that leading the men in green came at a great cost to the 36-year-old as he was unable to perform consistently, which ultimately led to him being axed from the team.
“I think he ruined his batting career in captaincy. He remained captain for four years and was ousted because of this,” the 29-year-old fast bowler was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
“He sometimes batted at number six, sometimes at number seven which means he did not make himself strong. He was a captain, he could have batted up the order, [made] runs and [solidified] his position.
“But in those four years, he batted much less and compromised his batting career for the sake of the team.”
Sarfaraz made his Test return in December 2022 when Pakistan played a two-Test series against New Zealand and subsequently featured in the two-match series against Sri Lanka in July 2023.
After beating Sri Lanka 2-0, Pakistan defeated Afghanistan 3-0 in an ODI series before featuring in the Asia Cup, where they failed to reach the final.
The men in green are now in action in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India and have won their first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.
Next up for them will be a clash against India on October 14 in Ahmedabad.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup: Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Usama Mir, Mohammad Nawaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali
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