ICC T20 World Cup 2016: Pakistan appoint Sarfraz Ahmed as new T20 captain following Shahid Afridi's resignation

Wicket-keeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed has been appointed as the new captain of Pakistan's Twenty20 International team. Ahmed takes over the captaincy from Shahid Afridi, who relinquished his post following their disastrous ICC T20 World Cup 2016 campaign in India.

"The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is pleased to announce the appointment of Sarfraz Ahmed as the Captain of the Pakistan T20 team. Sarfraz was appointed vice captain of the One Day International (ODI) and T20 teams last year. He takes over the captaincy of the shortest form of the game from Shahid Afridi whose term as captain came to an end after the ICC World T20 2016," a media release from the PCB was quoted as saying by OneIndia.

Sarfraz was part of the team that played in the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2016, where Pakistan performed disastrously failing to make it past the group stages. The Men In Green were beaten by arch-rivals India, New Zealand and Australia while managing to win only their game against Bangladesh.

Speaking on his appointment, PCB chairman Shahryar Khan said, "I spoke to Sarfraz this morning and conveyed to him that he was our natural choice for this position. His appointment is open-ended, I wish him good luck in his new role."

The 28-year-old has played 21 T20 Internationals, 21 tests and 58 One Day Internationals, but other than tests he is yet to get a chance to showcase his skills. Take for instance the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2016, Sarfraz was sent down the order where he could not influence the game.

Pakistan are currently ranked seventh in the T20 International rankings and their next T20 International fixture is on 7 September where they take on T20 runners-up England in a one-off T20 at Old Trafford, Manchester.