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Mohammad Rizwan not keen on Sarfaraz Ahmed's return to the Pakistan team

image-l8d9xreaMohammad Rizwan in action (PC: Twitter)

Former Pakistan seamer-turned pundit, Sikander Bakht believes that former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed may never play for the national side again.

Bakht recently claimed that he has heard from an ex-cricketer that incumbent keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan stated that he 'won't let Sarfaraz Ahmed return' to the Pakistan team.

Bakht further claimed that it's probably because Sarfaraz never gave Rizwan an opportunity during his captaincy stint.

Here's what Sikander Bakht said on Geo News:

"I think they've decided that they won't play Sarfaraz. Our cricket community is very small, so we get to know a lot of things. A cricketer, who does programmes with us, told me that Rizwan said, 'I won't let Sarfaraz return to Pakistan team'. That's because when Sarfaraz was there, he didn't let Rizwan play. This is what I have heard. I might be wrong."

Sarfaraz Ahmed made his international debut in 2007

Sarfaraz Ahmed led Pakistan in all three formats between 2016-19, before he was unceremoniously dumped out of the set-up in September 2019 following a poor World Cup campaign and home series defeat to Sri Lanka in T20Is.

Under Sarfaraz, Pakistan claimed the No.1 ranking in T20Is besides winning the 2017 Champions Trophy.

However, his personal form suffered during his tenure, and it proved to be his undoing when Pakistan hit a rough patch in ODIs and Tests.

Ahmed was eventually replaced by Rizwan, who, since then, has managed to become Pakistan's 1st choice keeper across all formats.

Recently, Sarfaraz was overlooked for the T20I World Cup touring party. He last represented the 'Men in Green' in a T20I against Bangladesh in November 2021.

Ahmed has thus far represented Pakistan in 49 Tests, 117 ODIs and 61 T20Is since making his international debut during a 5-match series in India in November 2007.

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