Rizwan’s captaincy is also going to go?Image Credit source: PTI
After a few days of peace, controversy and drama have returned in Pakistan cricket. The death of 3 young cricketers from Afghanistan in the air strike by Pakistani Army has pushed the cricket of both the countries on the back foot. Afghanistan has withdrawn from the T20 series to be held in Pakistan. Due to this there is a demand to ban Pakistan cricket team. At the same time, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) itself is creating a new drama. Once again this drama is related to captaincy and this time the character is Mohammad Rizwan, whose ODI captaincy seems to be going away.
The controversy has started again regarding the change in captaincy just before the ODI series between Pakistan and South Africa to be held in a few days. For the last 2-3 years, due to the appointment of different captains, the Pakistani team is being ridiculed everywhere. In such a situation, the captaincy of ODI team captain Mohammad Rizwan also seems to be in danger and the latest statement of the Pakistani board has fanned this fire.
Will Pakistan get a new captain?
In fact, for the last few days, there were reports in Pakistani media that fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi could become the new captain of the ODI team. Amidst these reports, the Pakistani board issued a statement on Saturday further strengthening such claims. In a statement, PCB rejected the reports of Shaheen becoming the new captain but did not say that Rizwan will remain the captain. PCB said that no decision has been taken on the captaincy for the ODI series against South Africa.
The statement also said that coach Mike Hesson requested PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi to hold a joint meeting of the selection committee and the advisory committee, in which the issue of captaincy could be decided. Naqvi agreed to Hesson and now the decision will be taken in the meeting to be held on October 20.
Bad condition under Rizwan’s captaincy
From this it is clear that Rizwan’s captaincy is not safe and it seems more likely that the Pakistani team may be seen playing under the leadership of a new captain for the ODI series against South Africa. Anyway, the performance of the Pakistani team this year under the captaincy of Rizwan was not good. She was eliminated in the first round of the Champions Trophy held in her own home. Then they had to face a clean sweep of 0-3 against New Zealand, while West Indies also defeated them 2-1 in the ODI series.