Sarfaraz Ahmed

He took up the Test captaincy mantle for his team following the retirement of Misbah-ul-Haq and hence became the 32nd Test captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team.

While his paternal family migrated to Pakistan from Azamgarh during the partition of India, his mother, a native of Dilerganj, did so after marrying his father in 1982.

Sarfaraz Ahmed (born 22 May 1987) is a Pakistani professional cricketer, a wicketkeeper-batsman, who plays for the Pakistani national cricket team.

He was the former captain of the Pakistan side in all formats.

He leads Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League.

Sarfaraz Ahmed was born on 22 May 1987 in Karachi, Pakistan to a family with a printing press business.

Ahmed is a Muhajir, both his paternal and maternal ancestors being from Uttar Pradesh (UP), India.

Coincidentally, during his under-19 days, he also led the Pakistan team to win the 2006 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, where they had also beat India in the final.

His father died back in 2006.

Sarfaraz's notable achievement during the early days of his career was winning the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2006 where he led the Pakistani team and defeated India in the final in a low-scoring encounter.

Sarfaraz was called up by Pakistan as a cover for Kamran Akmal who had a finger injury in the one-day series against India in November 2007.

He made his ODI debut in the final match of the series, on 18 November 2007.

He didn't get a chance to bat as Pakistan had won the match before he was needed to bat.

In 2008, Sarfaraz was selected ahead of Kamran Akmal for the Asia Cup.

He made his Test match debut in Hobart on 14 January 2010, in the third Test match against Australia, replacing Kamran Akmal who suffered an "error-ridden performance" in the second Test.

He was dropped again after one match.

Sarfaraz returned to the international team for the ODI series against Sri Lanka in November 2011 and for the subsequent series against Bangladesh and the Asia Cup.

In the final of the tournament he scored a crucial 46 not out (the highest score from his team) as Pakistan won the match by 2 runs.

He was consequently rewarded a Category C contract and selected for Pakistan's next series against Sri Lanka, again for T20Is.

He married Syeda Khushbakht, also a Muhajir with ancestors from Aligarh in UP, in 2015; the couple have two children.

In 2015, Sarfaraz was selected for 2015 Cricket World Cup but did not get a chance to play in the first four matches.

Due to the first frequent losses, he was selected for Pakistan's fifth match of the event against South Africa where he scored 49 runs off 49 balls and took 6 catches as a wicket-keeper and equalled the ODI record for most dismissals (6 dismissals).

Also, he equalled Adam Gilchrist's record for the most dismissals as a wicketkeeper in a single World Cup innings (6) He was rewarded with the 'Man of the Match' award.

In his second match in the world cup, he scored 101* against Ireland and he was again named the Man of the Match.

That win gave Pakistan a spot in the Quarterfinals of the World Cup.

After Misbah retired from the ODI format of the game after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Sarfraz was emerging to be a potential successor.

However, the PCB went with Azhar Ali for the captaincy and considering Sarfaraz's leadership in the Pakistan U-19 team, appointed him as the vice-captain of the ODI team.

During the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle, Sarfaraz stabilized the Pakistan's innings with a knock of 96 runs in just 85 balls, falling just four runs short of a century when he was bowled by Sri Lankan pacer Dhammika Prasad.

During his knock, he became the 7th Pakistani wicketkeeper to reach 1000 Test runs, in 28 inns, jointly the fastest Pakistani wicket-keeper with Imtiaz Ahmed.

That knock also earned him the Man of the Match award.

Sarfaraz was dropped from the T20 series that followed the Test series against Sri Lanka.

Many fans back home were shocked and started to raise questions.

Pakistani coach Waqar Younis said on 6 August that Sarfraz is a key Pakistani player and he should be the next T20 captain of Pakistan.

Sarfaraz was named as Pakistan's Twenty20 International captain following the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 in India.

Under his captaincy, Pakistan won the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, defeating arch-rivals India in the final.

He was named Pakistan's ODI Captain on 9 February 2017 after Azhar Ali stepped down.

In March 2018, on Pakistan Day, Sarfaraz became the youngest cricketer to be awarded the Sitara-i-Imtiaz.

In August 2018, he was one of thirty-three players to be awarded a central contract for the 2018-19 season by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

In January 2019, in the second ODI against South Africa, he played his 100th ODI match.

Later in the same series, he was banned for four matches after admitting making a racist remark to South African Andile Phehlukwayo.