Waqar unhappy with controversy over Sarfaraz exclusion

Pakistan's head coach Waqar Younis is unhappy with the controversy created over the exclusion of vice-captain Sarfaraz Ahmed in the recent T20 series in Sri Lanka.
"I am unhappy because an unnecessary controversy has been created and it has overshadowed our achievements and victories in Sri Lanka," Waqar said.
"Such controversies are not required in Pakistan cricket at this stage because the fact is that I spoke to Sarfaraz before the T20 series and informed him about our plans to give a chance to the reserve keeper in the side, Muhammad Rizwan and he accepted this decision," Waqar was quoted as saying by 'The Express'.

The former Pakistan captain flew directly to his home in Sydney after the Sri Lanka series and was clearly annoyed with the ruckus created over the decision to rest Sarfaraz in the two T20 matches that Pakistan won.
The wicketkeeper's exclusion caused a big uproar in Pakistan cricket circles forcing the PCB chairman and chief selector to state they would talk to Shahid Afridi and Waqar to find out the reasons for not playing Sarfaraz.
"All this talk about having some grievances with Sarfaraz or being unjust with him is not right because neither me nor anyone else has any problems with Sarfaraz and I see him already as our future national T20 captain," Waqar said.

"It was a joke when some former players claimed that Afridi didn't play Sarfaraz as he saw him as a threat to his captaincy. Afridi has just a few months of cricket left and eventually he will be replaced by Sarfaraz."

The Pakistan head coach said that in order to move forward and form strong combinations in all three formats it was necessary to experiment and try out new players and combinations.
"That was our only purpose in the T20 series. We also wanted to see how Rizwan performs in his role," he said.
He said it was unfortunate that it had become a habit in Pakistan cricket to create unnecessary controversies which hurt the team and players.

"This controversy took the sheen out of some excellent performances in Sri Lanka because after a long time we won all three formats there. Sarfaraz was one of our main performers so why should I have any enemity against him," Waqar said.