Mohammad Rizwan has been named as Pakistan’s white ball Captain taking over from Babar Azam who stepped down from captaincy after the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 defeat.
As his first assignment, Rizwan will be leading the Pakistan squad against ODI World Champions Australia starting next month.
He will be leading the side to rebuild white-ball formats with a new set of players being added to the squad as Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq miss out on their place in the squad for the Australia tour.
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 27, 2024
“I am deeply honoured to be appointed as Pakistan’s white-ball captain,” he said.
“Representing Pakistan on the global stage is the greatest privilege and to now be entrusted with leading such a talented and exciting group of players is a tremendous honour. Joining the ranks of some of Pakistan’s legendary limited-overs captains truly is the icing on the cake.”
Meanwhile, Salman Agha Ali has been named vice-captain. The announcement comes after the squad announcement for white ball tours for Australia and Zimbabwe.
Rizwan will be available for both Australia and Zimbabwe ODIs but will not participate in the T20I series. Pakistan has made a notable change in the selections bringing in six uncapped players for the tours.
Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Faisal Akram, Haseebullah, Muhammad Ifran Khan and Saim Ayub will be playing in the three ODIs and three T20Is in Australia and Zimbabwe.
The selectors have also included uncapped players Jahandad Khan and Agha Salma in the T20I squads. Meanwhile, Babar Azam will be part of both squads for the Australia tour but has been excluded from the Zimbabwe tour.
On the other hand, Kamran Ghulam, Omari Bin Yousuf and Sufyan Moqim will be making their debuts while Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Faisal Akram Muhammad Irfan Khan and Saim Ayub have joined the ODI squad for the first time.
Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Rauf Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah and Shaheen will depart for Australia on October 28 while the remaining players will leave on October 28.
The Australia tour will be extended between November 4 and 18 while the Zimbabwe tour will be played between November 24 and December 05.
