The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to stick to split captaincy as it named the new-white ball skipper. Mohammad Rizwan has been named the ODI skipper while Salman Ali Agha has been named his deputy. Rizwan replaces Babar Azam who resigned twice in the past one year from captaincy. The new skipper’s first assignment will be the PAK vs AUS series which will begin on November 4 with the ODI series.
Pakistan name Rizwan as ODI captain, Salman Ali Agha as vice-captain
PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi informed at a press conference that the board arrived at the decision after consultation with the players and the selection committee. He also added that he had held one on one talks with both Rizwan and Agha over escalating them to the leadership position. Rizwan has a tall task at hand on taking over captaincy, with Pakistan’s schedule loaded with white-ball fixtures leading to the Champions Trophy 2025.
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Babar Azam had stepped down as Pakistan’s white-ball skipper following the team’s exit from the T20 World Cup. He informed the PCB of his decision nearly a couple of months back and said that he wanted to focus on his batting instead. Rizwan soon emerged as the frontrunner but was yet to have talks with the PCB chief over the matter. Pakistan have finally named their new skipper, with the side set to depart for Australia on October 29.
Mohammad Rizwan is the only other cricketer apart from Babar Azam to be retained in the top category in PCB’s central contracts for 2024-25. Shaheen Afridi has been demoted to category B while Shan Masood is promoted to Category B, subject to his Test captaincy.
