Sarfaraz stand-in captain in Babar's absence but substitute Rizwan assumes 'captaincy' on field: What do the rules say?
However, confusion reigned in the early hours of Day 3 when Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, didn't come out on the field for the resumption of play – in his place, Mohammad Rizwan took the field as a substitute player.
Pakistan are taking on New Zealand in the first Test of the two-match series in Karachi; while the home side had a fine outing with the bat, scoring 436, the Kiwis came back with excellent reply as openers Tom Latham (113) and Devon Conway (92) forged a 183-run stand for the first wicket.
However, confusion reigned in the early hours of Day 3 when Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, didn't come out on the field for the resumption of play – in his place, Mohammad Rizwan took the field as a substitute player.
Moreover, Rizwan was also seen setting the fielding placements as he assumed the leadership responsibilities. There was one problem, however – according to the rules set by the Marylebone Cricket Club (24.1.2 law), "A substitute shall not bowl or act as captain but may act as wicket-keeper only with the consent of the umpires."
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The confusion became more pronounced when Pakistan opted for a review against Conway. Left-arm spinner Abrar Ahmed trapped the New Zealand opener plumb and as umpire Aleem Dar remained unmoved with the appeal, Sarfaraz came up to have a chat with Abrar, with Rizwan also joining in. Incidentally, both Rizwan and Sarfaraz made the gesture for the review.
Eventually, since Sarfaraz had also opted for the review, the DRS was taken. Sarfaraz took charge of captaincy as the game progressed.
It has been reported that Babar is unwell and was unable to take the field on Day 3. Earlier, the right-handed batter smashed an impressive 161 in the first innings while Sarfaraz also scored an important 86 as the duo steered Pakistan out of trouble early in the innings. Agha Salman also smashed a century as the side finished on a strong total of 436.
During his 86-run knock, Sarfaraz also became the highest-scoring Test wicketkeeper for Pakistan. Now in 50 Tests, Sarfaraz has scored 2,743 runs at an average of 37.06. Behind him are wicketkeeper-batters Kamran Akmal (2,648 runs in 53 Tests), Moin Khan (2,581 runs in 66 Tests), Imtiaz Ahmed (2,010 runs in 66 Tests) and Rashid Latif (1,381 runs in 37 Tests).
