Basit Ali: “He was a born leader. Nobody could match him in the context of captaincy and the guts he had”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali believes Sarfaraz Ahmed was miles ahead of Babar Azam when comparing their tenures as captain.
Basit noted that Sarfaraz was superior and “a born leader” as he led Pakistan to victory in the 2017 Champions Trophy.
On top of that, he pointed out that the 38-year-old always put the team first as he pushed himself down the batting order.
“He was a born leader. Nobody could match him in the context of captaincy and the guts he had. Sarfaraz never thought about himself. In the [2017] Champions Trophy, he batted at [the] No. 5 position and then at the No. 7 position as he believed it was useful for the team.
“Social media explodes when Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan is removed from captaincy. But nobody spoke up for Sarfaraz Ahmed at the time.”
Sarfaraz recently served as the Quetta Gladiators’ team director in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
As for Azam, he captained the Peshawar Zalmi and made 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
After PSL 10, the 30-year-old was overlooked by the national selectors for Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh and the three-match T20I series against the West Indies.
Azam did take part in Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against the West Indies in Trinidad and finished with 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Next up for the men in green will be a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah, which will be held from August 29 to September 7.
Following this, Pakistan will feature in the 2025 Asia Cup, which will take place in the UAE from September 9 to 28.
Pakistan squad for UAE T20I tri-series and 2025 Asia Cup: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
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