To the interest of cricket fans, Pakistan remained quiet in the hunt for a white-ball skipper after Babar Azam stepped down as the white-ball skipper of Pakistan. Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has been named as the white-ball skipper for the upcoming tour to Zimbabwe and Australia.
This was Babar’s second term as the Pakistan skipper, from which he was dropped due to a string of poor performances.
As the selectors recently opined over Babar Azam likely rested from the test squad, Rizwan has always been the second-leading player to become the skipper of the national team, especially marking his large impact in white-ball formats.
Now, as per reports and confirmed squads released by the PCB, Mohammad Rizwan has been named as the white-ball skipper for both the ODI and T20I formats. While Salman Ali Agha has been named the vice-captain for the white-ball formats.
Fakhar Zaman faces the heat of backing Babar Azam over PCB’s decision
Fakhar Zaman, the left-handed batter, has been dropped from the Pakistan limited-overs squad. Though this decision might be considered a move based on his injured status, the player has also faced an annulment of an annual contract with the PCB.
Babar Azam, who was dropped from the Pakistan squad for the longest format of the game, Fakhar Zaman went on to back the veteran cricketer as he slammed the PCB with his tweets and hurled accusations as well as questions on PCB over social media.
Pakistan will next take on Australia in a three-match ODI series and follow it with a three-match T20I series as well, as Fakhar has not been placed into the squad, which would also have some impact on the Pakistan cricket team.
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PAK vs AUS: Pakistan announces Squad for ODI: Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
PAK vs AUS: Pakistan announces Squad for T20I: Mohammad Rizwan (capt, wk), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.