Re: How Sarfraz Ahmad ‘accidentally’ rose to cricketing fame
Glorifying Sarfaraz… is too early… Misbah playe 87 matches… and 51.7% winning ration…
Sarfaraz… is getting success in early matches… who knows… his winning ratio can go bellow than Misbah… I will not count Afridi captancy… he himself is unstable player… rahi baat Azhar ki… 29 matches are not enough … he probably be better in future…
Fawad Aalam… why is he not in team beside typical discrimination argument…?
Re: How Sarfraz Ahmad ‘accidentally’ rose to cricketing fame
The title of this article is misleading to say the least.
Sarfraz did NOT ‘accidentally’ rise to cricketing fame. He came into the limelight after leading Pakistan U-19 team to World Cup glory in 2006. He and Anwar Ali became household names after that.
I generally don’t really like articles that dwell unnecessarily on a player’s background or ethnic origin. Support a player not because he’s from a particular city but because of his talent and his contribution to the team’s success.
When I first started following cricket my favourite Pak batsmen were Zaheer and Miandad. Zaheer because he was so stylish and graceful at the wicket and Miandad because of his sheer grit and dependability. I did not need to know that they played cricket for Karachi or that Zaheer was born in Sialkot (Punjab) and Miandad was urdu-speaking! These things absolutely did not matter to me.
Unfortunately the way some of us have been brought up or because of where we grew up, some of us just cannot stop looking at or judging things in terms of regional loyalty or prejudice..
I don’t deny that there is regional rivalry in cricket but NOT ALL nepotism or bias is due to regionalism. In Pakistan it is mostly about having good connections. Doesn’t matter where you are from, if you are good enough to play at this level and are reasonably well-connected, chances are you will get selected one day.
There is bias irrespective of regionalism as well.
Take Inzamam’s example. He had been performing well in domestic cricket for a couple of years but for some reason was constantly ignored by the selectors. It wasn’t until a cricket scout (Imran relied on them. IK asked him if he knew anybody who played fast bowling well) mentioned Inzamam’s name to Imran that he finally got his big break. Imran had one look at him in the nets and decided that he would play for Pakistan.
You need a bit of luck as well i.e. being in the right place at the right time.
A few weeks prior to his selection into the Pakistan team, Wasim Akram was an unknown club cricketer. He was asked by team management to bowl to a group of Pakistani batsmen who had been selected for the 1984/85 tour of New Zealand. Miandad noticed that he was bowling better than the players that had been selected and asked for Akram’s inclusion in the squad.
Then there is Waqar Younis. Imran watched Waqar bowl on TV in a domestic game in 1989 while recovering at home. He actually went to the ground to watch the end of the game. The very next day, Imran met Waqar and told him that he would be going to Sharjah next month.
All of the above went on to have very successful international careers!!!
Playing for the national team is no less than a lottery (You can only pick 15 or 16 players) but I would never know why Sadaf was never given a chance by the selectors. I mean what more can you do as a player?
Sadaf Hussain | Pakistan Cricket | Cricket Players and Officials | ESPN Cricinfo
I am sure there are many others.
As for Sarfraz he still needs to prove himself at test level but he is the right choice as captain at the moment. He must be given time to settle as a leader. Let’s see who Sarfraz, Mickey and the selectors go for as test replacements for Misbah and Younis in the middle order.
Re: How Sarfraz Ahmad ‘accidentally’ rose to cricketing fame
Fully agree, I believe Misbah was probably more “accidental captain” than Sarfaraz.
Re: How Sarfraz Ahmad ‘accidentally’ rose to cricketing fame
There is another thing here - hometown happiness from the feeling that your hometown boy performs well - I remember the happiness of 1978 when Pakistan won the World Cup of hockey in Argentina - then Hanif Khan from my area of Karachi was one of the team members and on his arrival back home - the entire town was decorated! And we felt proud over that and mentioned it to other karachites!
So if some people are showing happiness here for Sarfaraz then others should not take it as a some sort of racial bias or whatever!