Sarfaraz Ahmed had chance to step down but refused to, say sources

Sacked Sarfaraz Ahmed h chance to make a graceful exit as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) h vised him to step down as captain in all three formats but wicketkeeper-batsman turned down suggestion. According to highly-reliable sources, when Sarfaraz met with Board CEO, Wasim Khan on Friday in Lahore he was asked to step down having led national team in all three formats since 2017. "Sarfaraz flatly refused to do this and told Wasim Board could sack him if y wanted but he would t step down himself," PCB source said.

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Sarfaraz Ahmed was offered graceful exit but chose t to

source ded Sarfaraz would also t be part of Pakistan's T20 or Test squs for Australia tour as he coach-chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has w decided to give a chance to wicketkeeper-batsman Muhamm Rizwan. source said Wasim Khan h assured Sarfaraz he could make a comeback to national team when he regained full form. PCB Chairman, Ehsan Mani has said that it was a difficult decision to remove Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain in all three formats. In a PCB statement, Mani said that decision to remove him was taken because of his lack of confidence and poor performance. " decision was a difficult one but taken in best interest of Pakistan cricket," Mani said.

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Sarfaraz Ahmed sacked from Test and T20I captaincy

PCB decided to sack Sarfaraz Ahmed from captaincy of game's longest as well as shortest format. Azhar Ali will w le Pakistan in Tests while Babar Azam has been named new T20I skipper. Babar is currently top-ranked T20I batsman while Men In Green are number one T20I team in ICC rankings. Ahmed, who was appointed as Pakistan's T20I captain after ir disastrous ICC World T20 2016 campaign led Pakistan to summit of ICC rankings shortest format of game with 11 consecutive series wins. However, it seems that he h lost his mojo as Pakistan failed to win a single T20I series this year. ir unbeaten run was halted in an away series against South Africa earlier this year and y suffered ir second straight defeat in 20-over format at home against Sri Lanka recently.

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