Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur, on Friday (8th February), has cleared all speculations that the players are no more interested to play under Sarfaraz Ahmed following his four-match ban for a racial taunt in South Africa, saying the Men in Green are very comfortable with him leading the side forward.
Arthur further went on to urge the people to move on from what happened in South Africa that led Sarfaraz to serve a suspension, saying their main focus should be on finalizing the squad for the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup which is just a few months away.
Arthur told reporters in Lahore, “We've made that decision because we are very comfortable with Sarfraz leading this team forward. There's clarity, there's no more speculation.”
Sarfaraz was banned for racially taunting South African all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo in Durban, and Arthur said: “What he did was wrong and it was worked through. Saffy took it on the chin, he apologized, he moved forward, everything was handled properly.”
Meanwhile, the Coach believes that Sarfraz's main job is wicketkeeping, and he is not worried about his form with the bat, which put his captaincy in jeopardy
Arthur signed off by saying, “He (Sarfraz) has dropped eight balls in four and a half months, so he is not out of form in his core job. I'm not, and I want to reiterate, not worried about Sarfraz Ahmed's (batting) form.”
(With Associated Press Inputs)
