Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday removed Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain from T20I and Test following Pakistan's dismal performance in the recently concluded T20I series against Sri Lanka.
Veteran batsman Azhar Ali has been named as Pakistan's skipper in Tests and Babar Azam will take over as T20I captain.
The wicketkeeper-batsman has also been dropped from the side ahead of Australia tour and has been asked by the PCB to regain form in domestic cricket before, in order to be a part of the side in the future.
Sarfaraz was named as Pakistan's Twenty20 International captain following the 2016 ICC World Twenty20 in India, while he took over as their ODI skipper in 2017 after Azhar Ali stepped down. Under his captaincy, Pakistan won the Champions Trophy 2017 by defeating arch-rivals India in the tournament finale.
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Sarfaraz Ahmed's dismal batting form and his ordinary result-making has costed him his place as Pakistan's skipper in two formats. Pakistan's head coach-cum-chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq was reportedly unhappy at Sarfaraz's failure to take responsibility of the team's clean sweep at the hands of an inexperienced Sri Lanka side and the players' lack of effort in training.
A resolution to remove the struggling Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has also proposed in the Punjab Assembly last week after the Men in Green's recent whitewash in the three-match Twenty20 International (T20I) series against Sri Lanka at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.