Islamabad
\nPakistan will have a new One-day International (ODI) captain when they take on South Africa in the upcoming three-match series. According to a press release issued by the country\u2019s cricket board on Saturday, \u201cno decision has been made yet regarding the captaincy of the national team\u201d for the series.
\n\u201c.. head coach Mike Hesson has formally written to PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, recommending that a joint meeting of the Selection Committee and the Advisory Committee be convened to finalise the captain for the series,\u201d the statement read, adding that the decision will be made as soon as Monday.
\nThe PCB correspondence all but confirms Mohammad Rizwan\u2019s ouster as the Pakistan ODI captain after leading the side to series wins in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa last year.
\nThe wicket-keeper-batter, however, had disastrous outings in the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this year \u2014 with Pakistan failing to make it past the group stages \u2014 before losing away series to New Zealand and the West Indies.
\nRizwan\u2019s last ODI captaincy stint was in August against the West Indies \u2014 where the Caribbean side sealed a much-needed first ODI series win against Pakistan since 1991, after being swept aside 3-0 and 5-0 in Test and T20 series, respectively, by Australia earlier in the summer.
\nHe was also quietly removed from Pakistan\u2019s T20I captaincy during this time, with Salman Ali Agha taking over.
\nAs per ongoing speculations and unconfirmed reports circulating on different media and social media platforms, Pakistan pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi is highly likely to replace Rizwan as Pakistan kick off their preparations for the 2027 World Cup with the South Africa series from November 4.
\nThe Mohsin-led PCB regime, since February 2024, has made wholesale changes. It first removed Shaheen as captain to bring back Babar Azam as white-ball skipper in the first half of 2024.
\nShaheen was previously appointed the T20I captain after Babar stepped down from captaincy in all formats following Pakistan\u2019s disastrous campaign at the ODI World Cup 2023 in India.
\nLater, Babar, owing to the team\u2019s poor performance in the T20 World Cup, decided to step down, after which Mohammad Rizwan was given the reins of white-ball team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Pakistan will have a new One-day International (ODI) captain when they take on South Africa in the upcoming three-match series. According to a press release issued by the country\u2019s cricket board on Saturday, \u201cno decision has been made yet regarding the captaincy of the national team\u201d for the series. \u201c.. head coach Mike Hesson […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125691,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-509489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n