Former Test captain and ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2006 and ICC Champions Trophy 2017 winning captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has announced his retirement from international cricket, bringing an end to a distinguished career span around two decades (2007-2026).
Born in Karachi on May 22, 1987, Sarfaraz played his first international match (ODI) against India in 2007 and made his last international appearance in a Test against Australia in Perth in 2023.
The wicketkeeper-batter featured in all three formats which include 54 Tests, 117 ODIs and 61 T20Is. He scored 6,164 runs across all three formats, which include six centuries and 35 half-centuries. Behind the stumps, he had 371 dismissals including 315 catches and 56 stumpings.
Sarfaraz captained Pakistan in 100 international matches in all three formats (50 ODIs, 37 T20Is, 13 Tests) and led the side to the No.1 ranking in T20I cricket. During his captaincy, Pakistan achieved a world-record streak of 11 consecutive T20I series victories and recorded six clean sweeps, which include against West Indies (2016 and 2018), Sri Lanka (2017), Australia (2018), New Zealand (2018) and Scotland (2018).
He has the Pakistan record of 10 catches in a Test match, which he took against South Africa in Johannesburg 2019. He is still the only Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter to score an ODI century at Lord’s which he scored against England in 2016.
Sarfaraz Ahmed led Pakistan to historic triumph in the ICC Champions Trophy, beating India by 180 runs in the final at the Oval in England. With that victory, Sarfaraz became the first Pakistan captain to win the Champions Trophy and the only captain till date to win ICC titles at both junior and senior levels, having earlier led Pakistan to win in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in 2006 in Sri Lanka beating India by 38 runs.
He was awarded the Pride of Performance in 2018 and became the youngest Pakistan captain to receive this award.