Will Sarfaraz Ahmed play in World Cup 2023?

Mickey Arthur — the newly appointed director of the national side — has not contacted Pakistan's former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed regarding the latter's participation in the ODI World Cup 2023, sources told GeoSuper.tv.

Several reports on Thursday claimed that Arthur had contacted Sarfaraz and talked to him about the upcoming world cup in India.

However, sources close to the former captain confirmed to this correspondent that no such contact was made.

On Wednesday, during a press conference at Karachi's National Bank Stadium, Sarfaraz responded to a query about his wish to play World Cup in India this year.

"Do you wish to play World Cup this year?" he was asked.

The former skipper responded: "As long as I am playing, there is always a wish to play." 

"I want to play cricket," he added.

Sarfaraz is one of the most successful captains of Pakistan. He remained the national side captain from 2016 to 2019. Under his captaincy and Arthur's coaching, Pakistan won its first-ever Champions Trophy in 2017. Also, he led Pakistan to record 11 consecutive T20I series wins.

The wicketkeeper-batter also captained Pakistan in ICC World Cup 2019. However, he was removed from captaincy later that year after Pakistan were whitewashed in a T20I series at the hands of Sri Lanka.

Thereafter, he remained a part of Pakistan's Test squad but had to wait for four years to return to the playing XI. 

Earlier this year, Sarfaraz made his Test comeback during the home series against New Zealand. He scored a match-saving century to register a strong comeback.