Pakistan have decided to hand over the white-ball captaincy duties to Mohammad Rizwan, who will succeed Babar Azam as the leader after the latter stepped down from the position. The white-ball tours against Australia and Zimbabwe will be the wicket-keeper batter’s first assignments. He is not entirely new to the role as a captain, having already led the Pakistan side in a couple of Test matches against New Zealand in 2020-21. He also has been a long-standing captain of his team, Multan Sultans, in the Pakistan Super League. Recently, he captained Markhors during the Champions Cup. Rizwan was quoted as saying by the PCB about his captaincy,
“I am committed to giving my absolute best in this role and look forward to working closely with the selectors, coaches, and my immensely talented teammates. Together, we aim to meet and exceed the expectations of our fans and supporters.”
Salman Ali Agha, in an interesting move, was named as Rizwan’s deputy during the press conference in Lahore. Salman was one of the key players behind Pakistan’s recent series win against England. Though he is yet to debut in T20Is, he averages a tick above 40 in ODIs.
Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah, who were released from the squad for the second and third Test matches against England, have been called back into the side for the Australian tour. Mohammad Haris, whom many lauded as Pakistan’s next wicket-keeper batter, will not feature in any of the tours after his middling performance during the ongoing Emerging Teams Asia Cup and the Champions Cup before that. Haseebullah Khan will act as the backup for Mohammad Rizwan in Haris’s stead.
Rizwan, 32, will only play the ODI series against Zimbabwe, while Babar, Naseem, and Shaheen will sit out both T20I and ODI series against the Chevrons. Salman Ali Agha will act as Rizwan’s surrogate in T20Is against Zimbabwe.
Fakhar Zaman is the most notable exclusion from the squad. According to the PCB chair, his tweet in Babar Azam’s support, which earned him a show-cause notice, was one of the reasons for not including the top-order batter. Though, Mohsin Naqvi said, this was not a bigger decision than Fakhar’s failures in fitness tests.
“The tweet [he posted] is an issue for us,” Naqvi said. “It doesn’t matter as much as him failing his fitness test though. We have to make a decision over his show-cause notice, and after that he has to pass his fitness test. That’s why he isn’t in. He spoke very well at the connection camp, and it was him raising his voice that has led us to reform our international department. I appreciate that. But it’s unacceptable for a player to tweet against the selection committee. That is not permitted, and it will never be permitted.” Naqvi said.
Pakistan vs Australia tour
Pakistan ODI squad: Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi
T20I squad: Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.
Pakistan vs Zimbabwe
ODI squad: Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Saim Ayub, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir
T20I squad: Agha Salman (capt), Abbas Afridi, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Omair Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan
