Sarfaraz Ahmed: “Congratulations to Saud Shakeel. It is a great honour to be the vice-captain of Pakistan’s national team. Such junior players are being groomed, who have been captaining at the lower levels is uplifting”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed admitted he is glad to see Saud Shakeel getting rewarded after he was named vice-captain of the Test team for the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh.
Shakeel has become a key member of the Test side as he has brought great stability to the middle order, which used to be an area of concern for the men in green.
Having been given more responsibility, Sarfaraz hopes the 28-year-old makes the most of it and continues leading by example.
“Congratulations to Saud Shakeel. It is a great honour to be the vice-captain of Pakistan’s national team. Such junior players are being groomed, who have been captaining at the lower levels is uplifting. All the players are talented, all the youngsters are performing well. Whoever gets the opportunity should play well,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Neither Shakeel nor Sarfaraz were involved in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where the men in green were eliminated in the group stage.
Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh will take place in Rawalpindi and Karachi from August 21 to September 3.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi