Ex-captain says PCB needs to find Sarfaraz's successor before sacking him

Former Pakistan captain and cricket analyst Aamer Sohail has voiced against the abrupt removal of current skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed from captaincy, saying that the cricketing board needs to ‘groom’ a successor first.

“There is a lot of debate and discussion about suitability of Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain in some or all three formats of the game. To me this is just a sad case of a knee-jerk reaction to recent disappointing performances by the Pakistan side,” wrote Sohail, at PakPassion.net.

The former captain was of the view that the board should first look to find a player that posses the needed leadership mettle and ‘is not simply a good player.’ “The fact is that the PCB has not groomed a successor to him and so to expect Sarfaraz to be replaced for the sake of change is absolute madness.”

Sohail further said that the failure to groom a good captain would lead to “a dressing room with possibly six captains instead of one good leader and we cannot afford that at any cost.”

With overhaul on the cards, PCB is looking for a new skipper, as per reports the board is considering to make Azhar Ali the captain of Pakistan Test side, with Sarfaraz Ahmed leading in the limited formats and Babar Azam as the vice captain in all formats.