Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed made a surprise return to the national side after nearly eight months since he last turned up at the highest level. The wicketkeeper batsman was selected for the tour of England in August-September, featuring three Tests and three T20Is.
Sarfaraz, in a media interaction, confirmed that the final call on travelling to England was left to the players by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in wake of the health risk posed amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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"PCB CEO Wasim Khan spoke individually to each player and made it clear that if we had any reservations about going to England in the COVID-19 situation we should let him know without any fear," said the 33-year-old.
"He left the final call to us and obviously all of us must have spoken to our families before deciding to go."
The series will be played in a bio-secure bubble, with players going through proper testing, quarantine rules and following highest safety protocols. But the PCB responsibly left the ultimate decision on the players. Two of them, Haris Sohail and Mohammad Amir opted out of the trip. Haris, because of the health concern and Amir, due to the expected birth of his second child in August.
Sarfaraz, meanwhile, also talked about the time away from the side and how difficult it was to be considered dispensable to the team across formats.
"Obviously it is difficult to make a comeback after you have once been a regular member of the team and then dropped," he said.
"But I think the good thing is soon after I was dropped I got busy playing in domestic cricket and then the Pakistan Super League and that helped me a lot keep my focus on cricket and not let negativity enter my mind."
It was felt from the outside that the new regime, led by head coach and chief selector, Misbah Ul Haq, doesn't want Sarfaraz to be part of the set-up and is moving on to other options, such as Mohammad Rizwan. Despite such circumstances, however, Sarfaraz said he didn't for once felt like giving up the sport and accepted that there might have been mistakes made during his captaincy tenure, which he paid heavily for.
"I will try to not repeat the same mistakes and the good thing is as captain I was never arrogant or thought myself as different from the other players in the team," he said.
"We have all shared the same dressing room and we all know each other well so it wouldn't be a problem adjusting back into the team under someone else's captaincy."
Under Sarfaraz, while the team struggled in Test matches, it won the 2017 Champions Trophy, remained No.1 in the ICC T20I rankings and came one additional win short of making the last year's 50-over World Cup semi-final in the UK. Sarfaraz's personal form, though, left a bit to desired.
"Now as a player, I think I can give more time and focus on my own game and try to play my part in helping the team get good results," he said, looking forward to the new phase in his career.
"I realised (away from the team) that one has to come across such ups and downs in one's career and it is part of life. The break has allowed me to relax and also work a lot more on my fitness."
(Inputs from PTI)
