Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Quetta Gladiators brought important changes in their coaching staff with the inclusion of Shane Watson as head coach and Shaun Tait as bowling coach, and another big change in the team is on the horizon.
After serving the team for eight years as its skipper, Sarfaraz Ahmed could be sacked as owner Nadeem Omer is scheduled to meet with Watson in a few days, reported ESPN Cricinfo on Tuesday.
As of now, there is no strong candidate to replace Sarfaraz Ahmed but as per the report, Rilee Russouw, who returned from Multan Sultans in a trade deal, and Saud Shakeel are the frontrunners to assume the captaincy.
Saud’s leadership skills are rated highly in domestic cricket and this could be one of the reasons why he is in contention.
Nadeem Omer appeared in a local podcast recently where he stated he is “double-minded” on whether Sarfaraz should be removed as a skipper or not.
“It is the elephant in the room,” Omar said. “Wherever I go, people ask me this. But our franchise is a bit different from the others in the sense that we have a very intimate relationship with these players. I understand cricketers have a shelf life, but I think over Pakistan history, we tend to dump players unceremoniously.”
Omar then confirmed that he is meeting with Watson in the coming days and if a decision is made on Sarfaraz’s captaincy, then he will get the well-deserved honor from the franchise.
“Sarfaraz has been off the boil over the last couple of years. There are a lot of reasons for that – the way he was unceremoniously ousted by the PCB didn’t help, especially when he had a few more years. We won’t dump him unceremoniously.
“We haven’t decided yet but we’ll give him full honours. Sarfaraz told me he would be happy to step aside if Quetta wants to make a change. We have a call with Shane Watson in a couple of days and then we’ll decide,” Omar added.
It must be noted that Quetta confirmed during the PSL 9 Draft that Sarfaraz will remain as the team’s captain.
It is worth mentioning that Quetta played three finals under Sarfaraz’s leadership and also clinched the title in 2019.
