Former Take a look at captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has introduced his retirement from worldwide cricket, bringing an finish to a distinguished profession spanning round twenty years, in keeping with a press launch issued by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Karachi-born wicketkeeper-batter, who made his ODI debut in 2007 earlier than making his Take a look at and T20I debuts in 2010, went on to characterize Pakistan in 54 Assessments, 117 ODIs and 61 T20Is.
He scored 6,164 runs throughout codecs, together with six centuries and 35 half-centuries. Behind the stumps, he grabbed 315 catches and accomplished 56 stumpings throughout his worldwide profession.
Sarfaraz captained Pakistan in 100 worldwide matches throughout codecs, together with 50 ODIs, 37 T20Is, 13 Assessments, and led the facet to the No 1 rating in T20I cricket.
Throughout his captaincy, Pakistan achieved a world-record streak of 11 consecutive T20I sequence victories and recorded six clear sweeps, which embrace towards West Indies (2016 and 2018), Sri Lanka (2017), Australia (2018), New Zealand (2018) and Scotland (2018).
Sarfaraz’s management period additionally noticed the emergence of a number of future stars, together with Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan, whom he backed initially of their worldwide careers.
Sarfaraz led Pakistan to historic triumph within the ICC Champions Trophy, beating India by 180 runs within the remaining on the Oval in England.
With that victory, he grew to become the primary Pakistan captain to win the Champions Trophy and the one captain until date to win ICC titles at each junior and senior ranges, having earlier led Pakistan to win within the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in 2006 in Sri Lanka.
In recognition of his companies and the Champions Trophy triumph, Sarfaraz was awarded the Satisfaction of Efficiency in 2018, turning into the youngest Pakistan captain to obtain the honour.
Speaking about his particular person data, Sarfaraz has the Pakistan file of 10 catches in a Take a look at match, which he took towards South Africa in Johannesburg in 2019. He’s so far the one Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter to attain an ODI century at Lord’s, which he scored towards England in 2016.
Sarfaraz, who performed his first worldwide match (ODI) in 2007, made his final worldwide look in a world match (Take a look at) towards Australia in Perth in 2023.
“It has been the best honour of my life to characterize Pakistan. From main the U19 crew to a world title in 2006 to lifting the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017, each second in Pakistan colors has been particular. I’m grateful to my teammates, coaches, household and the followers for his or her unwavering help all through my profession,” the previous skipper stated in an announcement.
“Captaining Pakistan throughout all codecs was a dream come true. I all the time tried to play fearless cricket and construct a united crew. Seeing gamers like Babar, Fakhar, Hasan, Shaheen, Shadab and others develop into match-winners throughout my captaincy is considered one of my proudest achievements,” he added.
He additionally thanked the Pakistan Cricket Board for the belief “they positioned in me through the years”.
“Pakistan cricket has all the time been very near my coronary heart and I’ll proceed to help the sport in each doable means,” he concluded.
