[9] In August 2018, he was one of thirty-three players to be awarded a central contract for the 2018-19 season by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

[12] Later in the same series, he was banned for four matches after admitting making a racist remark to South African Andile Phehlukwayo.

While his paternal family migrated to Pakistan from Azamgarh during the partition of India, his mother, a native of Dilerganj, did so after marrying his father in 1982.

[14][16][17] Sarfaraz's notable achievement during the early days of his career was winning the ICC U-19 World Cup in 2006 where he led the Pakistani team and defeated India in the final in a low-scoring encounter.

Sarfaraz was called up by Pakistan as a cover for Kamran Akmal who had a finger injury in the one-day series against India in November 2007.

[18] Also, he equalled Adam Gilchrist's record for the most dismissals as a wicketkeeper in a single World Cup innings (6)[19] He was rewarded with the 'Man of the Match' award.

After Misbah retired from the ODI format of the game after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Sarfraz was emerging to be a potential successor.

The teams included West Indies, Australia, New Zealand, England & Zimbabwe against which Pakistan won the series.

On 9 February 2017 following the resignation of then captain Azhar Ali from ODI captaincy, Sarfaraz Ahmed was chosen to succeed him.

In the pool matches, Pakistan lost to India, but went on to win against South Africa and Sri Lanka to enter semi-finals.

In the final against arch-rivals India, Pakistan posted a massive total of 338 and won the match convincingly to become the champions.

[29] In January 2019, during the second ODI of the series against South Africa, Sarfaraz was caught on the stump mics using a racial slur towards Andile Phehlukwayo.

[32] The following month, the PCB confirmed Sarfaraz as the team's captain, and stated he would lead the squad at the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

[45][46] Sarfaraz was picked by Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) players' draft on 21 December 2015.

[48] In the third season (2018), Quetta Gladiators could not manage to qualify for the final and were defeated by Peshawar Zalmi by 1 run in the first eliminator.

[49] He once again captained Quetta Gladiators in the fourth season of PSL leading the team to win the tournament for the first time, defeating Peshawar Zalmi in the final match.

[52] In November 2021, he was selected to play for the Galle Gladiators following the players' draft for the 2021 Lanka Premier League.