Sarfaraz Ahmed Leaves Pakistan Amid Question Mark Over His Future With National Team

In a recent development that might shock the Pakistani cricketing fraternity, wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed has decided to leave his homeland as dark clouds keep looming over his future with the National team. The 36-year-old has made up his mind to shift to London, United Kingdom alongside his wife and 2 children.

Sarfaraz Ahmed is reportedly unhappy with the amount of game time he has been receiving in the Pakistani team, which is currently on a tour of New Zealand for a 5-match T20I series. In his absence, youngster Azam Khan has taken up the role of wicket-keeping with Pakistan appointing different captains for the side.

Although they are yet to announce their new ODI captain, Shan Masood, and Shaheen Shah Afridi are leading the Test and T20 sides. The Green Army are currently in deep trouble, losing back-to-back 8 matches since their group stage win against New Zealand in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on November 4.

Moreover, they are currently in contention to suffer a 2nd consecutive whitewash at the hands of New Zealand in the T20I series where they are already down by 4-0. Before this series, Pakistan were hammered 3-0 in the Test series at the Land Down Under earlier this month but their performance hasn’t improved even after such turmoil.

Tomorrow at Christchurch, they will have a chance to avoid a 5-0 drubbing against the Kiwis, and the news regarding Sarfaraz Ahmed’s decision to leave the country has added more tension. He was a part of the team that toured Australia for the 3 Tests and after taking part in the 1st Test at Perth, Sarfaraz was dropped for the final 2 Test matches in Melbourne and Sydney.

His last appearance in Pakistan’s white-ball matches came way back in 2021 and he has been overlooked in ODIs and T20Is ever since. Sarfaraz’s last ODI appearance was during the 3rd ODI in Centurion against South Africa in 2021 whereas in the shortest format, his last match was against Bangladesh in November 2021.

The Karachi-born cricketer was appointed as the all-format captain of Pakistan in 2017, 2 years before he took over as the ODI and T20I captain. Under his captaincy, the Men in Green lifted their first major ICC silverware in the form of the Champions Trophy in 2017, since the 2009 T20 WC title in England.

As a U-19 captain, he led Pakistan to the 2006 U-19 World Cup triumph, beating India in the final by 38 runs in Sri Lanka. And now his situation has got to the point where he is reluctant to even stay in the country of his birth. In 2019, he was removed from captaincy and was dropped entirely due to poor form.

Despite Leaving Pakistan, Sarfaraz Ahmed Keeps Himself Open To Feature In PSL 9

Despite falling out of favor with the National side and falling out of love with the country’s cricketing system, Sarfaraz Ahmed is keen on remaining relevant within the domestic circuit. He will feature in the upcoming 9th edition of the Pakistan Super League for the Quetta Gladiators.

With his decision to shift to London almost certain, it will be interesting to see if Sarfaraz Ahmed is able to get back to the team, but as of now, it remains a distant thought.