Ramiz Raja: “Pakistan needs to quickly assess whether to play Sarfaraz because we need his all-round ability, not only as a keeper behind the stumps but also as a batsman, or do we play Rizwan because he plays pace bowling well”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja said the team management need to assess if they need wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed in the Test side.
This comes after Sarfaraz only featured in one out of three Test matches Pakistan played against Australia.
Ramiz noted that a decision must be taken on whether to play Sarfaraz or Mohammad Rizwan as the men in green can’t keep switching between them.
“Pakistan needs to quickly assess whether to play Sarfaraz because we need his all-round ability, not only as a keeper behind the stumps but also as a batsman, or do we play Rizwan because he plays pace bowling well,” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
In the one Test he played, Sarfaraz scored seven runs in total.
As for Rizwan, he featured in the other two Tests and accumulated 193 runs, which included a top score of 88, at an average of 48.25.
Pakistan ended up losing the Test series against Australia 3-0 and are now taking on New Zealand in a five-match T20I series, where they trail 1-0 after losing the first T20I by 46 runs.
The second T20I will be played on January 14 in Hamilton.
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
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