Former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has given a quality comeback by winning the Man of the Series award for his outstanding batting in the Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand.
2017 ICC Champions Trophy Series, India vs Pakistan in the final. Until then, Pakistan had never beaten India in an ICC series. So the slogans that the trophy belongs to India started ringing all over the world. There were monotonous copycat lines everywhere saying why India won the trophy and what is the reason for holding the final.
But the Pakistan team led by Sarfaraz Ahmed, who did not see much, prepared for the final with the goal of starting the reckoning for all the defeats received so far.
First ICC Champions Trophy winning captain for Pakistan!
Pakistan performed well in the final, bowled out India for 158 runs and registered the highest margin of victory in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy so far, with Pakistan team registering their biggest win by 180 runs. Even the previous Pakistan team that had seen many greats could not beat India in the ICC series and Sarbaraz Ahmed did it without much fanfare and put the Champions Trophy trophy in the hands of Pakistan for the first time.
Despite winning the trophy for Pakistan, Sarbaraz Ahmed was left out of the team for 4 years due to the chaos in the Pakistan management and the changing of coaches.
Comeback in the New Zealand series after 4 years!
In this case, Sarfaraz Ahmed got a place in the Pakistan team in the series against New Zealand held in his home country. Batting first in the first Test, the Pakistan team quickly lost 4 wickets and stumbled. Then Babar Azam and Sarbaraz Ahmed both played brilliantly. Sarbaras came into the team after 4 years and scored his half-century. Sarbaras, who continued to show great performance, was dismissed for 86 runs when he was expected to score a century. Then he scored a half-century in the second innings as well.
The second Test started on January 2. Batting first, New Zealand scored 449 runs. Then, Sarfaraz Ahmed, who started his first innings in the Pakistan team, showed a good batting performance and crossed the half-century. He was dismissed for 78 runs when he was expected to score a century at least in this innings. Pakistan scored 408 runs in the first innings. Starting the second innings, the New Zealand team declared on 277 runs at the end of the 4th day and gave a shock similar to what Pakistan did in the first match.
2 wickets for 0 runs – 5 wickets for 80 runs
Then the New Zealand bowlers shocked the Pakistan team who started the second innings by dismissing both the openers for 0 runs in 3 overs at the end of the 4th day of play. Starting the 5th consecutive day, the Pakistan team stumbled by losing 5 wickets for 80 runs. The fans have come to the place where New Zealand is the winner in this match.
But even though the wickets fell on one side of the match, on the other hand, Sarbaras was standing and giving the match a chance to win, not a draw. Sarbaras put on a partnership of 123 runs for the 6th wicket and scored an amazing half-century, South Shakeel got out for 32 runs. Pakistan were just 40 runs short of Sarbaraz’s partnership with Aha Salman, who came in later.
Sarbaraz Ahmed’s great game declared and trapped New Zealand!
Sarbaras, who continued to perform brilliantly, completed his 4th Test century after 4 years. After the hundred, Sarbaras sat on the ground and acted emotional. His celebration was shared on social media. Sarbaras was stuck between winning the match or taking it to a draw for the New Zealand team. Bracewell dismissed him for 118 runs after a long struggle. The match was tied as the overs ended.
Man of the Match – Man of the Match “Sarbaraz Ahmed”!
Sarfaraz Ahmed, who scored 3 fifties and 1 century in the 2-match Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand, was selected as the Man of the Series. Sarbaras was also awarded the man of the match award for leveling the match by knocking off New Zealand’s victory.
Speaking about Sarbaras after the match, captain Babar Azam said his comeback was brilliant and it certainly turned out to be a dream comeback for him.
Speaking after the match, Sarbaras said, “For me it was a great comeback. Earlier I was a part of the team for a long time but for the last 4 years I was waiting for my chance. “The management gave me a lot of confidence when I came back into the team to bat. Thanks to everyone who believed in me,” he said.