A video of Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omer went viral where he got emotional while mentioning former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed's achievements for the franchise and the country.
Gladiators have removed Sarfaraz as captain for the Pakistan Super League (PSL) nine with South Africa's batter Rilee Rossouw replacing him. Saud Shakeel will be Rossouw's deputy.
During a promotional event, Nadeem was appreciating Sarfaraz for his services as a leader and in the middle of his words he got emotional.
"We can never forget what you have done for Pakistan and Quetta Gladiators," Nadeem said as Sarfaraz came up to Nadeem and hugged him while the attendees started clapping.
Sarfaraz, who led Quetta to three finals and their only title win in 2019, will participate in this year's edition only as a wicketkeeper-batter.
Remember, Rossouw and Saud were the top contenders to replace Sarfaraz as the skipper but the franchise ultimately decided to go with the prolific South African batter, who was one of their most important players during the 2019 PSL title win.
Earlier, Nadeem confirmed to Geo News that the wicketkeeper-batter aims to take a break from captaincy.
"Sarfaraz wants to take a break from captaincy with new head coach Shane Watson set to decide who will lead the side after consulting with the team management," Nadeem said.
Nadeem also expressed his satisfaction with the return of Shane Watson, who joined the franchise in 2018 and was the leading run-scorer hitting 430 runs at a strike rate of 143.81, a performance that earned him the Player-of-the-Tournament award of the 2019 campaign.
It must be noted that PSL 9 will be held in four cities — Karachi, Lahore, Multan, and Rawalpindi — with the final of the event taking place at the National Bank Stadium in Karachi on March 18.
Quetta Gladiators' PSL 9 squad
Rilee Rossouw (Platinum), Mohammad Wasim, Jason Roy, Wanindu Hasaranga (all Diamond), Sarfaraz Ahmed (Brand Ambassador) Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Hasnain (all Gold), Mohammad Amir, Will Smeed (Silver) Saud Shakeel, Sajjad Ali, Usman Qadir, Adil Naz, Khawaja Nafay, Akeal Hosein, Sohail Khan, Omair Yousuf, Sherfane Rutherford, Bismillah Khan (partial replacement for Wanindu Hasaranga)
- Sarfaraz Ahmed