"Sarfaraz Ahmed should be made Pakistan's Test captain" - Danish Kaneria

Former spinner Danish Kaneria believes that Pakistan should re-appoint keeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed as the captain in Test matches.

Sarfaraz, who has previously led the side in all three formats, was stripped of the captaincy in 2019 following a poor run of form. However, Kaneria feels that he is better suited to lead the team in red-ball cricket as compared to current skipper Babar Azam.

The 42-year-old opined that Babar's captaincy hasn't been up to the mark, especially in the longer format.

Kaneria made these remarks during a live session on his YouTube channel on Tuesday, January 3. He said:

"Sarfaraz Ahmed should be made Pakistan's Test captain. He is a better option than Babar Azam. Babar hasn't been able to lead the side well in red-ball cricket. You cannot let the opposition team score so many runs in such situations."

Notably, Sarfaraz returned to the team's Test playing XI after nearly four years when he replaced Mohammad Rizwan in the first Test of the side's ongoing home series against New Zealand. While he missed a few chances behind the stumps, he was outstanding with the bat in both innings, finishing with scores of 86 and 53.

While Kaneria wants Sarfaraz to be at the helm of the Test team, it is worth noting that he has an underwhelming record as captain in the format. He has four wins and eight defeats to his name in 13 matches as the skipper.

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"The Pakistani batters flopped on a wicket where even New Zealand's tailenders scored runs" - Danish Kaneria

Danish Kaneria also went on to criticize the Babar Azam-led side's performance in the ongoing second Test against New Zealand, which is being played at the National Stadium in Karachi.

He highlighted how several Pakistani batters failed to score big on a pitch where even the New Zealand tailenders scored a lot of runs. Kaneria slammed the bowlers for letting the Kiwis post a total of 449 in the first innings.

The former spinner said:

"The Pakistani batters flopped on a wicket where even New Zealand's tailenders scored runs. The bowlers were quite lethargic to say the least, letting the lower-order batters accumulate a lot of runs. New Zealand were able to post 449 runs due to that, and these are a lot of runs for the Pakistani team."

New Zealand's Matt Henry and Ajaz Patel frustrated the hosts by stitching together a 104-run partnership for the 10th wicket. While Henry remained unbeaten on 68, Patel was dismissed on 35.