LONDON – Jogging at a slow pace, Sarfaraz Ahmed completed three rounds ofthe Lord’s ground. Then he stopped and spent around 15 minutes doing somestretching and then walked away, probably headed towards a central Londonmosque for Friday prayers.
What was surprising about his entire activity was that Sarfaraz had come toLord’s much ahead of the national team’s arrival for training. He had comea full 90 minutes before the team was scheduled to arrive.
Whether it was to get some much-needed exercise or valuable me-time,Sarfaraz’s decision to put himself to a physical test before the traininglooked like a case of too little too late. At the centre of criticism forhis team’s disappointing run in the World Cup, Sarfaraz will have a lot tolose if the Pakistanis fail to qualify for the last four.
And it’s not just his captaincy that’s under threat. Sarfaraz’s belly fatand his yawns during the crunch game against India at Old Trafford have alladded up and there is a big probability that when Pakistan begin rebuildingtheir ODI team post World Cup, Sarfaraz might not be part of theirlong-term plans.
Read Top Stories
But he has been scoring runs, his supporters might argue. Not really.Sarfaraz, 32, is one of the senior batsmen in this Pakistan team. A veteranof 110 one-day internationals, Sarfaraz has piled up 2,243 runs at anaverage of 34.50. In Pakistan’s four completed matches at the World Cup,Sarfaraz has had scores of 12 (West Indies), 40 (England), 55 (Australia)and 8 (India) for a grand total of 115 at 28.75.
For a senior batsman who is occupying the key No. 5 position in the battingline-up, these are hardly impressive figures. So when Pakistan take thefield against South Africa at Lord’s on Sunday, Sarfaraz will be under alot of pressure to perform both as a captain and the team’s experiencedmiddle-order batsman.