SHARJAH: Former England batsman Kevin Pietersen has put his weight behind Quetta Gladiators skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, urging the Pakistan Cricket Board to announce that he will lead the side in the upcoming World Cup in 2019.

Speaking at a press conference in Sharjah after Gladiators beat Islamabad United by six wickets, Pietersen said Pakistan was lucky to have Sarfraz as captain.

Responding to a question of how he rates Sarfraz as skipper, the middle-order batsman said: “All the players like him, he has got a very good cricket brain.”

“The World Cup is only 12 months away so I think that it will be a very clever decision for the Pakistani board to say to Sarfraz that you are leading our team to the World Cup,” he said.

”If you replace your captain after a captain does as well as Sarfraz does, the new person that comes in thinks that he can be replaced too before the next world cup. From my experience, you back your captain…because if you back your captain your players feel safe too.”

‘Wont be coming to Pakistan’

The top-order batsman announced that he would not be coming to Pakistan to play the rest of the PSL matches if Gladiators qualify for the semi-final and final stage of the tournament.

Speaking about the atmosphere in the Gladiators camp, Pieterson said Sarfraz and the team management have made the Gladiators franchise ‘a family team’.

“It’s a wonderful family, the owners are incredibly humble, they are not super emotional like a lot of other owners. They don’t go dancing in the crowd, but they give us full support and we know that they back us.”

“I am committed to Quetta because I signed a contract and when I sign a contract I fulfil my obligations of performing to the best of my abilities and that’s the bottom line. I am here to score runs and the team have been absolutely magnificent for three seasons.”