Former head coach Mickey Arthur considers Sarfaraz Ahmed's removal from captaincy as one of the major reasons behind Pakistan's diminishing fortunes in T20Is since mid last year. 

Both Arthur and Sarfaraz were sacked from their positions by the PCB in the aftermath of the country's unsuccessful ODI World Cup campaign in the UK. 

Australia becomes the new no.1 ranked T20I team; India now at third spot in latest ICC rankings

But in T20Is, Pakistan was reigning supreme at the time, and building nicely towards the World Cup in Australia, scheduled for October-November this year. 

After Arthur's departure, Pakistan lost series in the shortest format against Sri Lanka and Australia under the new regime led by head coach and chief selector Misbah Ul Haq. Sarfaraz was replaced as captain in T20Is by Babar Azam ahead of the tour down under. 

"To be honest, in T20 cricket, Sarfaraz is an unbelievable captain. He reads the game in T20s so well and he was instrumental in gearing up their T20I team back to where it needed to be," Arthur told Cricingif. 

"With Sarfaraz losing the captaincy, that created a little bit of doubt through the team and we saw the confidence levels dropping."

Misbah, who was interestingly part of the PCB cricket committee that triggered Arthur's exit, his predecessor believes, has made unnecessary changes to the T20I set-up. 

“I think they went off the formula. The formula was just there to be used, the player personnel was there to be used," Arthur stressed. "The players needed to be given confidence because whenever a coach departs, there’s always change. A new coach will always come in and will want to assert himself on the team, which is just natural."

"The slight change-ups would cause players to suddenly start worrying about their positions in the team. I think it’s important that the players who got us 11 straight [series] wins are sort of persisted with as those are the best T20 players Pakistan have got. And those are the players who will bring you success."

Read Also: Arthur bats for Amir's return to Pakistan's T20I squad in World Cup year 

Pakistan won the T20Is against Bangladesh in January, but that series was overshadowed by talks around weak opposition as well as the non-selection of pace veterans Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz. They were controversially sacked from T20Is because of turning their backs on Test cricket, announcing premature retirement. 

For Arthur, however, both Amir and Wahab are still extremely important to Pakistan's cause.  "You need Mohammad Amir without a doubt, he’s an incredible white-ball bowler that has to be playing. I think Wahab Riaz still has an opportunity to be part of that white-ball squad as well," he said. 

"Hasan Ali coming back will make a difference and I still back Faheem Ashraf. He offers so much with his all-round ability and is good in the field. I think the formula was there and it needs to be persisted with."

(Inputs from Cricingif)