Babar Azam, the batsman of Pakistan is fixed to be the skipper of the ODI squad of the nation. He replaced the wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz, who was also the captain of T20.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had removed Sarfaraz from the Test and T20 tournament. While Azhar Ali (recent captain of Pakistan national Test cricket) was named as captain for the shorter duration, the PCB had taken this decision surprisingly.
But, for the ODI format, there was no name of any captain from PCB as the next 50-over game will be an alone match of Pakistan on 3rd April against Bangladesh.
However, reviewers pointed out the decision of replacing Sarfaraz as last year Pakistan was led by him and won six times in the World Cup league stage matches. So, the replacement is not going to be that much easy in ODI format as a captain.
The biggest achievement of Sarfaraz as ODI captain was leading Pakistan to the title of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, also after beating India in the final match.
Board And Selectors Criticized For Sarfaraz Replacement
The board and selectors have already been criticized for replacing Sarfaraz as captain and dropping him as a player after taking Pakistan in this format to the number one world ranking.
Mohsin Khan, the previous head coach, and chief selector noted that PCB or Selectors have no justified reason behind the keeping or the replacement of Sarfaraz with Babar Azam in the ODI team. He also added that this decision would be an injustice with a fantastic player and a captain.
He said that in Test cricket changing Sarfaraz as captain was acceptable but, dropping him as a player of Test and T20 formats is not acceptable.
As the captain for all three formats, there was pressure on Sarfaraz but for white-ball formats, he is still the ideal choice,” Khan said.
According to previous Test batsman Ramiz Raja, Babur is the number one choice, who can play in all three formats fantastically and deserved to lead Pakistan in ODIs.
The head coach and the top selector Misbah-ul-Haq along with the two captains have said it frequently that if Sarfaraz performed well in domestic cricket as well as in the Pakistan Super League, then he can make a comeback into the team.
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