Former Pakistan Captain Sarfaraz Ahmed Announces International Cricket Retirement

Karachi. Former Pakistan captain and wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed has announced his retirement from international cricket. Sarfaraz, who led Pakistan to victory in the 2017 Champions Trophy and the 2006 U-19 World Cup under his captaincy, represented Pakistan from 2007 to 2023.

He is the first captain after Imran Khan to win an ICC 50-over title for Pakistan. Announcing his retirement, he said, 'It has been the greatest honor of my life to represent Pakistan. Every moment, from winning the U-19 team the World Cup to lifting the Champions Trophy, is special for me. I am grateful to all my colleagues, coaches, family, and supporters.'

He added, 'It was my dream to captain Pakistan in all formats. I am proud to see players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Hasan Ali establish themselves as top players under my captaincy.'

In his long career, Sarfaraz played 54 Tests, 117 ODIs, and 61 T20 Internationals for Pakistan. He scored 3,031 runs in Tests including 4 centuries, 2,315 runs in ODIs including 2 centuries, and 818 runs in T20Is. As a wicketkeeper, he took a total of 315 catches and 56 stumpings across all three formats.

The biggest success of his captaincy was winning the 2017 Champions Trophy, where Pakistan defeated arch-rivals India in the final. His T20 captaincy is also remembered specially. Under his leadership, Pakistan became number one in the T20 rankings globally and set a world record by winning 11 consecutive T20I series. He also led Quetta Gladiators to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) title in 2019.

However, due to poor form, he was removed from the captaincy of all three formats in 2019 and was also dropped from the team. Later, he made a spectacular comeback in the Test series against New Zealand in 2022, scoring one century and three half-centuries.

He played his last international match against Australia in December 2023. He is currently a member of Pakistan's national selection committee.