Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed is on the verge of taking over as head coach of Pakistan’s Test side, a role that has remained vacant for nearly five months. Meanwhile, Azhar Mahmood supervised the team during the recent Test tour of South Africa.As reported by Geo News, Sarfaraz is expected to take over the position ahead of Pakistan’s upcoming two-match Test against Bangladesh in May. He is currently with Pakistan Shaheens in the United Arab Emirates, where he is participating in T20 and one-day matches against England Lions. Official confirmation from the board is expected soon.See also: NZ vs SA T20 World Cup Semifinal Live score
India arrive for the final net session before the T20 World Cup semi-finals
Sarfaraz’s growing competence as a coach was enhanced after he led the Pakistan Under-19 team to the Asia Cup title. During this campaign, several supporters reportedly approached PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi and urged him to entrust the senior red-ball team to the former captain.Pakistan are currently fifth in the World Test Championship standings after a drawn home series against South Africa in October. Their next task in the cycle begins on May 8 when they host a two-Test contest in Bangladesh.In his playing days, Sarfaraz featured in 54 Tests, amassing 3,031 runs with four centuries and 21 half-centuries. He led Pakistan in 13 of those matches, securing four wins, including a famous win at Lord’s against England in 2018. His last Test appearance was against Australia in Perth in 2023.Across the white-ball formats, he represented Pakistan in 117 ODIs, scoring 2,315 runs with two hundreds and 11 fifties and played 61 T20Is, compiling 818 runs. He achieved remarkable success as a captain, most notably leading Pakistan to the 2017 Champions Trophy. He also led in the 2019 ODI World Cup, where Pakistan narrowly missed out on a semi-final berth despite winning five out of nine league matches. He has maintained an impressive win rate of 78.37 per cent as captain in T20 internationals.
