ISLAMABAD: Dashing wicket-keeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, the incumbent ODI and T20 skipper, was also named as the new Test captain of Pakistan here on Tuesday by Chairman PCB Shaharyar Khan during a reception hosted by Prime Minister Secretariat in the honour of the victorious cricket team for winning the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England recently.

In his address on the occasion, PCB Chairman said: “I personally believed that Sarfraz should be the captain of the Test team, but I could not make such a decision without consulting the others. Now, I have consulted the chief selector and others. Then I asked Sarfraz while coming here about his willingness for Test captaincy and he accepted.’

Shaharyar also lauded the performance of Sarfraz and his team for winning the coveted Champions Trophy in England.

“It was truly a fantastic performance by Pakistan and they did the entire nation proud,” he said.

Sarfraz will replace veteran Misbah-ul-Haq - the most successful Pakistan Test captain ever, who retired from international cricket after the Test series against the West Indies last April.

Sarfraz gets the rare honour of leading Pakistan in all the three formats. Earlier, he took over the T20 captaincy after the 2016 World T20 when Shahid Afridi stepped down after team’s dismal show in India.

Subsequently, in February this year, Sarfraz took over the reins of the ODI team following the resignation of Azhar Ali as skipper.

Meanwhile, sources in the PCB disclosed that chief selector Inzmam played a major role in convincing the PCB officials about handing the Test captaincy to Sarfraz.

Earlier, while addressing the ceremony earlier, Chairman PCB Executive Committee Najam Sethi said that the West Indies and Sri Lanka teams will visit Pakistan after the World XI visit in September. He said that positive negotiations are underway with both the teams.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2017