Sarfraz Ahmed on Tuesday was elevated as the captain of Pakistan’s Test cricket team, following the retirement of Misbah-ul-Haq and their Champions Trophy win.
Sarfraz is credited for a remarkable transformation which Pakistan went through after losing their opening match to India by a huge margin of 124 runs in the ICC Champions Trophy. After such a big loss, Pakistan got their act together and under the stewardship of Sarfraz, they went on to win the tournament for the first time in their history.
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While Sarfraz has never captained Pakistan in Tests, his records in other formats made him a strong contender.
In nine ODIs so far, Pakistan have registered 7 wins under Sarfraz. In the T20Is, Pakistan have won 7 out of 8 matches with him as the captain.
(Read | Virat Kohli named in Team of Champions Trophy, Pakistan’s Sarfraz Ahmed skipper)
Pakistan’s Test captaincy post has been vacant ever since Misbah retired from the format after leading the team for more than six years. Misbah had retired post the third and final Test of Pakistan’s tour of West Indies and since then the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had not announced the next captain.
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{{/usCountry}}(Read | After ICC Champions Trophy win, Sarfraz Ahmed urges India to play cricket in Pakistan)
{{/usCountry}}Sarfraz will now be entrusted with the job to help Pakistan rebuild a Test side, which was blanked 0-3 by Australia in their last tour. While Pakistan remained favourites to win the Test series in the Caribbean, they were made to work hard for it. West Indies won the second Test by more than 100 runs, leaving Pakistan to win the third and final game to clinch the series. Pakistan won by a margin of 2-1.
The tour had also marked the end of journey for the remarkable Younis Khan, who became the first Pakistani ever to make 10,000 Test runs. Younis too retired post the third Test.