Pakistan appoint Rizwan white-ball skipper, Babar Azam recalled for Australia tour

Rizwan

The South Asian team’s first leg in the Australian tour consisted of three ODIs played in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Pakistan Sunday made Mohammad Rizwan captain of the white-ball tours of Australia and Zimbabwe replacing Babar Azam who rated opaque earlier this month.

Rizwan, 34, previously captained Pakistan in two Test matches during the 2020 New Zealand tour while Babar Azam was recovering from an injury. This appointment marks Rizwan’s first time leading the team in limited-overs formats, as he has yet to experience captaincy in ODIs or T20s before this role.

Rizwan will head the team together with Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi who were also selected after being dropped for the last two Tests against England in the series which Pakistan won two – Zero on Saturday.

This jubilation was short lived for Pakistan cricket fans as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced the decision with a bitter taste of the bone.

‘We consulted all the stakeholders before deciding which team’s captain should be Rizwan,’ said Naqvi during a news conference in Lahore.

It may be noted that Azam was white-ball captain and appointed for the first time vis-a-vis 2019 and he tendered his resignation for the first time in the immediate aftermath of the Pakistan’s chastening last 16 elimination from the ODI World Cup in India last year.

But, Azam was back in position for the second times in second week of the month of March 23 ahead of the T20 World Cup which was to be hosted by the United States and West Indies where Pakistan once again exited in round 1 putting further strain on him to retire.

Rizwan announced that he will be accompanied by the whole bunch of participants. While Rizwan was also present in the news conference he stated: “We take great satisfaction in captaining Pakistan”

“We will put up a good fight and try to produce favorable outcomes on the tours. Batsman Salman Agha is set to be the vice captain for Rizwan. The selectors announced that neither Azam nor Shaheen would take part in the limited overs games during the tour of Zimbabwe next month.

Pakistan began its tour of Australia with the first three ODIs in Melbourne (4 November), Adelaide (8 November) and Perth (10 November). There will be three more T20I matches in Brisbane on 14 November, Sydney on 16 November and Hobart on 18 November.

Aamer Jamal and Arafat Minhas, Faisal Akram, wicketkeeper batsman Haseebullah, Irfan Khan and Saim Ayub were the new comers for the 1st ODI match. Similarly allrounders Jahandad Khan and Salman Agha will also make their T20I debut for the first time.

Squads for Australia:

ODI SQUAD: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi

T20I SQUAD: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Usman Khan

Squads for Zimbabwe:

ODI: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir

T20I: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Agha, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan

Stay updated on cricket news: Rizwan takes the helm as white-ball skipper, while Babar Azam makes his comeback for the Australia tour. To get the latest news subscribe to Sports Monks!

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