Sarfaraz Ahmed Is No Imran Khan: Sanjay Manjrekar

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has said current Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed is not at par with his illustrious predecessor Imran Khan when it comes to leading the team. Manjrekar’s comments have come just a couple of days after India berated Pakistan in the World Cup clash in Manchester. Pakistan never looked in contention to win the game as India thrashed them by 89 runs in the rain-curtailed game.

Asked to bat first, India posted a massive total of 336 for 5 in the 50 overs. Opener Rohit Sharma was the star man with the bat, scoring 140. KL Rahul and Virat Kohli also impressed, scoring 57 and 77 respectively.

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In reply, Pakistan failed to provide any sort of challenge to their formidable opponents. Barring the 104-run stand between Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam, they never really looked in contention to chase down the total. They eventually finished on 212 for 6 in 40 overs, thus losing the game by 89 runs (DLS method).

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Pakistan will now have to win all of their remaining four games to keep their qualification hopes alive. Even if they manage to win the games, they will have to depend on other results to make it to the next stage. With just 3 points from 5 games, they are well in danger of exiting the competition at the group stage.

Sarfaraz Ahmed now has a herculean task ahead of him. But before he could marshal his troops on the field again, Sanjay Manjrekar has undermined his ability as a captain. Manjrekar also said that blaming Sarfaraz for the defeat against India is silly.

“Sarfaraz Ahmed is no Imran Khan, he is not going to take Pakistan to the next level, and to be fair blaming him for the loss at Old Trafford is silly. India was a much stronger side and there was not much Sarfaraz could do about it,” said Sanjay Manjrekar as quoted by Pakistani journalist Saj Sadiq on his Twitter handle.

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“Imran Khan inspired his team, almost brainwashed them into believing they were better than everyone. It helped that there was great, natural ability already there. All it needed was the right channelling and cricket sophistication & Imran took care of that,” added Manjrekar.

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