Sarfaraz Ahmed silences critics

Pakistan captain-wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed took a diving catch to send Ross Taylor back in a must-win encounter against New Zealand in Birmingham on June 26.

Sarfaraz Ahmed holds his hand to his ears as if asking his detractors a question, after taking a stunning one-handed catch to dismiss New Zealand’s Ross Taylor.

There was enough said about the fitness of Pakistan cricketers in the ongoing World Cup. The loss to India forced the social media ninjas to question the body language of the players. Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed endured most of the trolls. He was also called ‘fat and unfit’ by former quick Shoaib Akhtar. To make matters worse, the camera captured him yawning while keeping wickets.

Sarfaraz answered his critics by taking a diving catch to send Ross Taylor back in a must-win encounter against New Zealand in Birmingham on June 26.

Coming into the match on the back of a brilliant 69 against the West Indies, Taylor was looking to stitch a partnership with Kane Williamson when youngster Shaheen Shah Afridi kept angling the ball into the right-hander to steal an edge.

The left-armer made Taylor move across the stumps to negate the angle but in the process, he ended up playing inside the line of the length ball. The thick inside edge flew towards first slip but it was stumper Sarfaraz who jumped to his right to pull off a one-hander.

Taylor’s dismissal choked the Kiwi middle-order and eventually, Pakistan chased down 238 with five balls to spare.