Azhar Ali quits as Pakistan’s ODI captain

Azhar Ali stepped down as Pakistan’s One-Day International (ODI) captain on Thursday (February 9), citing reasons of captaincy affecting his form as a batsman. Sarfraz Ahmed, who has led Pakistan in one ODI and four Twenty20 Internationals, will take over the reins of both sides.

In his last 23 innings as captain, Azhar has scored only two half-centuries and one hundred. In the recently-concluded ODI series loss against Australia, he had scores of 24, 7 and 6 in his three appearances. It was Pakistan’s second one-day series defeat in the last five months, after losing to England.