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Cricket

Sarfaraz Ahmed credits Captain and Team for his sensational Karachi century

Sarfaraz Ahmed stated that his century on the fifth day of Pakistan’s match against New Zealand in Karachi on Friday was the greatest of his Test career. Sarfaraz stated at the post-match presentation that it is usually difficult to bat in the fourth innings, as Pakistan needed 15 more runs to chase down 319 and New Zealand was one wicket away from victory.

Sarfaraz’s wife was in tears when he hit the three-figure milestone, and his teammates skipper Babar Azam, opener Imam-ul-Haq, and the whole support staff gave him a standing ovation, knowing the significance of that knock.

Sarfaraz came in to bat with Pakistan four down for 77 following the loss of Babar Azam. Shan Masood was also out after two overs and three runs. Sarfaraz went on to bat for over five hours and scoring 118 to pull Pakistan to the verge of victory before gloved one down to leg slip off Michael Bracewell.

Safaraz’s century sealed an incredible comeback. He was on the outskirts of the Test set-up for four years after losing his spot in the XI in January 2019. He was selected ahead of the out-of-form Mohammad Rizwan and collected scores of 86, 53, and 78 before recording his fourth Test century.

“Definitely I have more hundreds, but this was a fourth-innings hundred and in the fourth innings, it is not easy to bat anywhere in the world. So I think this is my best hundred,” he explained.

“I have been there with the team for four years and unfortunately I did not get a chance but whatever cricket came my way, my effort was to keep playing my game and keep giving performances and if Allah wants then I would get an opportunity and I did get an opportunity,” he added.

“My state of mind wasn’t very good when I came to bat the first time in the series. I was very tense, there was a lot of nerves,” he stated. “But the captain gave me a lot of confidence and the boys in the team gave me a lot of confidence. I backed my form from domestic cricket and had a good performance.”

Sarfaraz scored 335 runs in four innings and was named player of the series. Sarfaraz was the main aggressive player, putting up a 123-run partnership with Saud Shakeel. After Shakeel was out, he put up a 70-run stand with Agha Salman, but he said that after those two were out, he had to go a little on the backfoot and play more defensively.

“The effort was that when there were 140 runs left, the message from the team management and the captain was that you go after the ball,” Sarfaraz commented on the team’s final-day strategy. “But when the two wickets fell, I had to go a little on the back foot. But if those wickets hadn’t fallen then, the result could have been a better one for us.”

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