Sarfaraz Ahmed will not be captaining the Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024. Nadeem Omer, the owner of the franchise, said that Sarfaraz decided to “take a break” from captaincy after leading them for 8 seasons.
Omer said that head coach Shane Watson would name a replacement for Sarfaraz in due course.
“Sarfaraz wants to take a break from captaincy with new head coach Shane Watson set to decide who will lead the side after consulting with the team management,” Nadeem said.
Sarfaraz has led the Quetta franchise since the inception of the PSL back in 2016. Under him, the Gladiators won the tournament in 2019 while finishing as the runners-up in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
Sarfaraz is currently eighth in the list of leading run-scorers in the history of the PSL, having racked up 1503 runs from 80 matches at an average of 31.31 and a strike-rate of 123.80 with 7 half-centuries to his name.
In the last 4 seasons, the Gladiators failed to qualify for the playoffs under Sarfaraz’s captaincy.
Omer also welcomed back Watson and wished to bring back Kevin Pietersen, one of their former cricketers.
“The old family of Quetta Gladiators has started coming together again. Pietersen should also come with Quetta Gladiators in some role,” he added.
The Gladiators will start their campaign against Babar Azam’s Peshawar Zalmi on Sunday, February 18 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Quetta Gladiators squad for PSL 2024
Rilee Rossouw, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Jason Roy, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Amir, Will Smeed (Silver) Saud Shakeel, Sajjad Ali, Usman Qadir, Adil Naz, Khawaja Nafay, Akeal Hosein, Sohail Khan, Omair Yousuf, Sherfane Rutherford, Bismillah Khan (partial replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga), Sufiyan Muqeem
