Pakistan‘s Sarfraz Ahmed, skipper of Bengal Tigers, says he cannot wait to test himself in the latest format at next month’s T10 Cricket League but admits the version could be his biggest challenge as both a player and captain.
The sport will enter a new era with Sarfraz among the elite players to take to the field at Sharjah Cricket Stadium between December 14-17 for the inaugural tournament. It will see them play 10-overs-a-side matches over 90 minutes.
By being given the Bengal Tigers’ armband, Sarfraz finds himself in the same role as Pakistan’s Test, ODI and T20 captain but like all of the international cricketers, will be stepping into unknown territory with the new format.
That's the Bengal Tigers' jersey for #T10CricketLeague. Sarfraz Ahmed joined by the team owners @Sport360 pic.twitter.com/669CGMolzJ
— Denzil M Pinto (@denz_360) November 6, 2017
But even with 153 international caps across all three versions under his belt, Sarfraz acknowledges it will still be a challenge but one that will help raise his and his team-mates’ game.
“There are going to be challenges for me and the team,” he told Sport360 after he unveiled the team’s jersey alongside two of the team’s co-owners Anis Sajan, managing director of Danube Group and Neelesh Bhatnagar, owner of NB Venture, yesterday in Dubai.
“You see T10 cricket is a new format – not just for me but the other players as we’ve never played it before. But I will try my level best to do the best for Bengal Tigers.
“In T10, it’s the shortest format now in the game of cricket. That means that it’s going to be more faster. Previously there were Test matches over five days and then there were 50-over games. Then there were T20s.
“But now there’s even a shorter format in the T10, which is more challenging. I would say it’s going to be very fast like a computer lighting up quickly. It just means I have to be more alert as a captain and so do my players because every ball that is bowled or run that is scored is crucial. You cannot afford to be lapsing in concentration so I and my team need to be focused all the time in the game.
“But I’m very happy for this opportunity to play in this competition and very excited. Thank you to Anis bhai for giving me the chance to be part of the team and hopefully our team will do well Inshallah.”
Sarfraz assisted the team management during Sunday’s Player Draft at the Dubai Marina with the squad boasting the likes of World T20 winning captain Darren Sammy, Sunil Narine and ex-South Africa all-rounder Ryan McLaren.
In a draft that saw England’s Alex Hales, Adil Rashid and Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir among the picks, Sarfraz is pleased with his strength in depth but revealed he had identified his national team-mate all-rounder Imad Wasim as a potential signing.
“He’s a player who can bowl and bat,” he said. “In whatever team you are, you want a player who has plenty of experience of playing in the shorter formats. Unfortunately, because he’s so good it means that every team wants him but we are happy with what we have.
“We had a pre-draft before and we are happy to have got what we have. We picked some strong players and picked most of the players that we wanted.”
