Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who made a comeback nearly eight months after his ouster, Saturday said his comeback to the national squad after being removed as captain and player from the national team in all three formats was a learning process for him.
“Obviously it is difficult to make a comeback after you have once been a regular member of the team and then dropped. But 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.”
Sarfaraz revealed that PCB left it to the players to make the final call on travelling to England for the Test and T20 series.
“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. He left the final call to us and obviously all of us must have spoken to our families before deciding to go,” he said in a media interaction on Saturday.
Sarfaraz said he might have made some mistakes as captain and he was disappointed but insisted he never thought about leaving the game after the way he was dropped from the team.
He said he would try not to repeat the same mistakes and as captain he was never arrogant or different from the other players in the team.
“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. 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 admitted that being captain meant that he had to take pressure and he couldn’t think much about his own game and was always thinking about the other players, their performances and the results. He said the period he was out of the team, he received a lot of support. “I realised 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,” he said.
Sarfaraz insisted that he had no issues with Muhammad Rizwan now being the number one wicketkeeper in the team and he being the second choice. “In the 90s also there was a lot of competition between Moin Khan and Rashid Latif and in periods whoever was number one got preference. If I get a chance to play again in England I am prepared and will try to give my best.”
He said the coaching staff of Misbah-ul-Haq, Younus Khan, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed is the strongest coaching team he had ever seen with the national side. “It is the best coaching staff given their combined experience and I think it will help the players a lot in England on such a long tour. It is a good opportunity for players and they should take advantage of the experience of the coaches.”