previous Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed is set to take over as head coach of Pakistan’s Test team, but the position has been vacant for nearly five months. During this period, Azhar Mahmoud Oversaw the team during their recent Test tour of South Africa.According to Geo News, Sarfaraz is expected to take over the role ahead of Pakistan’s upcoming two Test matches against Bangladesh in May. He is currently playing for Shaheen Pakistan in the UAE, where they play T20 matches as well as one-day matches against the England Lions. Formal confirmation from the board is expected soon.
Sarfaraz’s credentials as a coach were strengthened after he led Pakistan’s U-19 side to the Asia Cup title. During that campaign, several supporters reportedly approached PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi and urged him to entrust the senior red team to the former captain.Pakistan are currently fifth in the World Test Championship standings after drawing the home series against South Africa in October. Their next assignment in the cycle begins on May 8 when they host Bangladesh in a two-Test match.During his career, Sarfaraz played 54 Tests and accumulated 3,031 runs with 4 centuries and 21 half-centuries. He led Pakistan to four wins in 13 of those games, including a famous win against England at Lord’s in 2018. His last Test appearance was against Australia in Perth in 2023.In the white-ball format, he represented Pakistan in 117 ODIs, scoring 2,315 runs with 200s and 11 fifties, and 61 T20Is, scoring 818 runs. He has achieved notable success as captain, most notably leading Pakistan to the 2017 Champions Trophy. He also led the team to the 2019 ODI World Cup, where Pakistan narrowly missed out on the semi-finals despite winning five out of nine league games. In T20 Internationals, he maintained an impressive winning rate of 78.37% as captain.
