Rizwan replaces Babar as Pakistan's white ball Captain
By Sreejith CR | First Published Oct 28, 2024, 12:14 PM ISTPakistan has announced a new white-ball captain and vice-captain ahead of the Australia tour.
Following their Test series victory against England, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the annual player contracts and the new white-ball captain. Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan is the new ODI and T20I captain for Pakistan. Agha Salman has been chosen as the vice-captain.
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The new captain and vice-captain were selected just before the series against Australia and Zimbabwe. PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi stated that Babar was not removed from the captaincy, but volunteered to step down. Naqvi added that Babar had expressed his desire to focus on his batting.
Rizwan, who has played 74 ODIs and 102 T20Is for Pakistan, has a batting average of 40.15 and 48.72 respectively. Rizwan's captaincy debut will be in the upcoming ODI and T20I series against Australia, starting on November 4th. Pakistan will play three ODI's and as many T20Is against the Aussies before flying to Zimbabwe. The series against Zimbabwe begins on November 24th.
Meanwhile, the PCB also announced the annual player contracts. Fakhar Zaman, who tweeted in support of Babar when he was dropped from the Test team, has been excluded from the annual contract, while Shaheen Afridi has been demoted from A grade to B. This is the first time in the last 8 years that Fakhar has been denied an annual contract.
Apart from Fakhar, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, and Iftikhar Ahmed have also been left out of the annual contracts. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are the only players in the highest-paid A grade. Pakistan Test captain Shaan Masood is in the B category along with Shaheen Afridi. Naseem Shah is the other player in the B category.
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