Rizwan dumped as Pakistan ODI skipper as Shaheen Shah Afridi replaces him after a meeting between selection committee and Hesson.
Rizwan sacked, Shaheen Afridi named new Pakistan ODI captain.
Shaheen Shah Afridi has taken Muhammad Rizwan’s place as Pakistan’s ODI captain after Rizwan was fired. Shortly after the opening day of the current Test match between South Africa and Pakistan in Rawalpindi, which both Rizwan, 33, and Afridi, 25, are now participating in, the PCB made the announcement.
Rizwan was replaced without explanation; in fact, the official statement made no mention of the wicketkeeper batter. The PCB claims that the selection committee and white-ball head coach Mike Hesson met in Islamabad before making the decision.
At the highest level of the PCB’s decision-making process, there was broader support for replacing Rizwan, even though it wasn’t directly requested by the head coach.
When Afridi was selected to captain the T20I team in January 2024 before a series against New Zealand, it was an unhappy end to his final stint as white-ball skipper. Similar to Rizwan’s current dismissal, Pakistan ultimately lost 4-1 before he was replaced, and chairman Naqvi notably refused to declare he would remain in the position. A week later, Babar Azam took Afridi’s place.
Up until recently, Rizwan was thought to be the most secure member of a group that also included Shan Masood and Salman Ali Agha, even though Pakistan had different captains for every format—a situation that will persist. With an average of slightly under 42 runs since taking over as captain of the ODI team last year, Rizwan is four runs behind Pakistan’s top scorer. Although results have declined this year, most notably an embarrassing first-round loss in a home Champions Trophy, he guided Pakistan to series victories in Australia and South Africa in 2024.