Mohammad Hafeez: “Yes, he didn’t perform up to expectations as a batsman and keeper. But this doesn’t mean that we should start doubting someone’s skill and saying they can only play in certain conditions”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez has made it clear that he won’t start doubting wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed after he “didn’t perform up to expectations” during the recent three-match Test series against Australia.
Sarfaraz only featured in the first Test in Perth and made seven runs.
Following this, he was benched for the second and third Tests as Mohammad Rizwan replaced him in the playing XI.
“Sarfaraz isn’t new – he has toured Australia, South Africa, England before. He’s not new to these conditions that we can say that he’ll struggle to adjust. Yes, he didn’t perform up to expectations as a batsman and keeper. But this doesn’t mean that we should start doubting someone’s skill and saying they can only play in certain conditions,” Hafeez was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan lost the Test series against Australia 3-0 and will now face New Zealand in a five-match T20I series, which gets underway on January 12 in Auckland.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand T20I Series: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan