Sarfaraz Ahmed taking over the gloves from Mohammad Rizwan in the 3rd ODI against South Africa

[Canistani Hero]

If playing Sarfaraz was not enough of a ********* and senseless decision, even bigger injustice has been done by taking away gloves from the premier WK of Pakistan.

I wish Misbah incompetency gets noticed by PCB and Imran Khan. He must be sacked after these horrendous decisions.

Regardless of some inconsequential howlers - he just one an away series in SA - Misbah's stock has only gone up.

[nam]

It was a master stroke from the team management. A very sensible move considering the form of our lower middle order off late. Congrats on the victory! Enjoy. Pakistan Zindabad

[Shoaibbtt]

Danish should have been retained. You don't debut a player and drop him 2 games later. It's simply criminal. It's not as if we replaced him with ABD.

Yep or Jacque Khallis.

[pakistani pride]

Pathetic. What is Sarfaraz doing in the team in the first place?! His time is over.

Some really strange choices made during the series, yet we managed to win the series.

[shamaan]

Rubbish decision. Rizwan is both a superior bat and keeper.

Sarfraz cant field and becouse they picked him he had to keep

[shamaan]

Once sarfraz is picked in the team he had to keep however i would not have played sarfraz.

[F123]

Sarfaraz's days as an ODI batsman should be behind him. He has no place being in the One-Day side.

His last 8 ODI scores have been:

13
23
8
3*
18
5*
2*
12

It's a step backwards to recall him.

But has Rizwan shown form in ODI cricket? Not Tests or T20I's - but ODI's? In the 6 ODI's since the last world cup, he is averaging 11.17, including 3 games against the mighty Zimbabwe. All of which have been in the past 6 months, when he is supposedly in form.

In terms of Sarfaraz, not sure why you're only looking at the past 8 innings - which go up to the middle of CWC 19. If you consider the full England series in May 2019 and full CWC 19, his recent form isn't too bad

[F123]

I'm sure Haider Ali will agree that Sarfaraz's experience and know-how really came to the fore today with his run-a-ball 13 and his displacement of the best wicket keeper in world cricket.

Can you explain your conclusion around how Mohammad Rizwan is the best wicket keeper in world cricket?

[MenInG]

The many faces of Sarfaraz.....

Smilies for your pleasure.


: shappy

: snothappy

: sangry

[Indiafan]

Na it was a good decision

Thing is, Rizwan can play as a fielder, and hes actually a good fielder.

Sarfraz has never fielded without gloves, so why take a dumb risk?
Its actually a smart move,

Right choice and a strategic decision.

Anyone who has seen Rizwan field knows he is an excellent fielder, whereas Sarfraz can only be on the field as a wicketkeeper. So I'm guessing the thinking behind it was to give Sarfraz the gloves since Rizwan would do excellent as a fielder anyways, whereas you would have to find ways to hide Sarfraz on the field if he didn't have the gloves.

Thing is, any keeper will see this as a demotion and its 100% going to affect Rizwan's confidence. Once again, short term decision which will affect team in long run

[shariqnoor]

I don't think Sarfraz should be in the Pakistan team at all but now that he is, one should look at the situation objectively.

Rizwan is both a better keeper and outfielder than Sarfraz. But it is a complete no-brainer that if Sarfraz is playing the match, then he has to don the gloves. You cannot afford a dud fielder like Sarfraz to man the outfield where he will be gifting 10 runs every match. The probability of Sarfraz dropping a catch without gloves is much more than with him having the gloves. We all saw how Kamran Akmal fielded in the outfield when he was recalled to the team against WI a few years back.

In terms of batting, people are harping on Haider Ali instead of Sarfraz in the middle order. That's completely ludicrous. Haider Ali is not fit to be a batsman playing at 4 and 5. He has no temperament whatsoever to play the long innings, at least not now. If Haider is in the team, then he has to open the innings or play at 3 or become the player who comes in at 6 and smashes the ball in the last 10 overs. You cannot rely on Haider to bat for 25 overs in the middle and also preserve his wicket. In that regard, Sarfraz is a much better bet. And needless to say, Sarfraz is a much better batsman that Asif, Danish.

Overall, I think the management got it right by having Sarfraz don the gloves and having him play at 5.

Whether Sarfraz should be in the team is a different matter and I don't think he should.

[BreadPakoda]

Rizwan is the better outfielder of the two, which is why he didn't have the gloves. It's not that difficult to comprehend.

If a batsman scores a 0 and a wicket-keeper scores 0, it's the same in terms of batting.

Rizwan is a keeper himself, so his not keeping makes no difference to his place in the team.

And Rizwan, in ODIs off late, has been shockingly poor to say the least. There's not much separating him and Sarfaraz at the international level in ODI cricket at the moment.

Nothing is so straight-forward to comprehend in Pakistan cricket. I have an inkling that Sarfaraz has been handed the gloves to make space for him.

[BreadPakoda]

I'm surprised some people fail to understand that when it comes to scoring runs, you have lower expectations from keepers.

Keeping works well for Sarfaraz.

[RedwoodOriginal]

Thing is, any keeper will see this as a demotion and its 100% going to affect Rizwan's confidence. Once again, short term decision which will affect team in long run

I don't think there's anything wrong with doing it once. But if it happens more than once then yeah, I agree. Especially since there is absolutely no reason to justify Sarfraz's place in the squad anymore, let alone the play eleven.

[hitthestump]

I don't think Sarfraz should be in the Pakistan team at all but now that he is, one should look at the situation objectively.

Rizwan is both a better keeper and outfielder than Sarfraz. But it is a complete no-brainer that if Sarfraz is playing the match, then he has to don the gloves. You cannot afford a dud fielder like Sarfraz to man the outfield where he will be gifting 10 runs every match. The probability of Sarfraz dropping a catch without gloves is much more than with him having the gloves. We all saw how Kamran Akmal fielded in the outfield when he was recalled to the team against WI a few years back.

In terms of batting, people are harping on Haider Ali instead of Sarfraz in the middle order. That's completely ludicrous. Haider Ali is not fit to be a batsman playing at 4 and 5. He has no temperament whatsoever to play the long innings, at least not now. If Haider is in the team, then he has to open the innings or play at 3 or become the player who comes in at 6 and smashes the ball in the last 10 overs. You cannot rely on Haider to bat for 25 overs in the middle and also preserve his wicket. In that regard, Sarfraz is a much better bet. And needless to say, Sarfraz is a much better batsman that Asif, Danish.

Overall, I think the management got it right by having Sarfraz don the gloves and having him play at 5.

Whether Sarfraz should be in the team is a different matter and I don't think he should.

Sensible post. I agree wholeheartedly with ideas around Haider at 5, he is not ready yet.

[shamaan]

I don't think Sarfraz should be in the Pakistan team at all but now that he is, one should look at the situation objectively.

Rizwan is both a better keeper and outfielder than Sarfraz. But it is a complete no-brainer that if Sarfraz is playing the match, then he has to don the gloves. You cannot afford a dud fielder like Sarfraz to man the outfield where he will be gifting 10 runs every match. The probability of Sarfraz dropping a catch without gloves is much more than with him having the gloves. We all saw how Kamran Akmal fielded in the outfield when he was recalled to the team against WI a few years back.

In terms of batting, people are harping on Haider Ali instead of Sarfraz in the middle order. That's completely ludicrous. Haider Ali is not fit to be a batsman playing at 4 and 5. He has no temperament whatsoever to play the long innings, at least not now. If Haider is in the team, then he has to open the innings or play at 3 or become the player who comes in at 6 and smashes the ball in the last 10 overs. You cannot rely on Haider to bat for 25 overs in the middle and also preserve his wicket. In that regard, Sarfraz is a much better bet. And needless to say, Sarfraz is a much better batsman that Asif, Danish.

Overall, I think the management got it right by having Sarfraz don the gloves and having him play at 5.

Whether Sarfraz should be in the team is a different matter and I don't think he should.

You need more temperament and to be able to play long innings at the top than bottom.batting at 5 you proberly will bat 20 overs at most.you need power hitter at that stage.