Faisal Shah: Muhammad Rizwan was sacked as Pakistan’s ODI captain on Monday, and Shaheen was handed over the reins of the team after a meeting between the selection committee and the white-ball coach Mike Hesson.
It was reported by ESPN cricinfo analyst Danyal Rasool that a change in captaincy was on the cards when Mike Hesson had called for a meeting of the selection committee, and the rumors have come true, making Shaheen the 33rd player to captain the Pakistan side.
The decision came on the back of the Pakistani team’s failure in the Champions Trophy 2025 and a recent ODI series loss against the West Indies. Muhammad Rizwan was made the captain for a brief stint of 20 matches, succeeding Babar, who captained the side in 43 matches and took the team to the top of the ODI ranking in May 2023.
This is not the first rash decision that the Pakistan selection committee has made. They have pulled off such stints several times in the past few years in white-ball cricket. And the change in captaincy is the biggest reason behind the team’s inconsistent performance.
Once Babar was removed from white-ball captaincy, PCB’s selection committee has not let any player captain the side for long. Here is an account of recent captaincy changes in T20I and ODI.
- 15 November, 2023: Babar Azam resigned from captaincy in all three formats of the game.
- 15 November, 2023: Shaheen Shah Afridi was made captain of Pakistan’s T20I side.
- 29 March, 2024: Shaheen Shah Afridi was sacked as T20I captain.
- 31 March, 2024: Babar Azam was appointed the T20I captain.
- 01 October, 2024: Babar Azam was sacked as the T20I captain.
- 27 October, 2024: Muhammad Rizwan was announced for both ODI and T20I teams.
- 04 March, 2025: Salman Ali Agha was appointed the captain of the T20I team.
- 20 October, 2025: Shaheen Shah Afridi was made the new ODI captain.
In a span of 2 years, there have been so many changes in captaincy, and none of the captains were given time to build a solid team. And alongside these captaincy changes, there were changes in the PCB chairmanship as well. Pakistan had 4 different chairmen during this time.
After Ramiz Raja, Najam Sethi was made the chairman. He was succeeded by Zaka Ashraf soon after. And once the new government took charge in Pakistan in 2024, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi was made the PCB chairman – a role that he has held since then.
These abrupt changes in the PCB and team’s leadership meant that the Pakistan team never got settled, which was visible in their poor performance across formats. But the changes kept coming because PCB was looking for quick fixes rather than giving the captains the cushion to build a good team.
The current decision to make Shaheen the ODI captain is among one of those quick fixes the Pakistani management and selection committee are looking for. Shaheen may turn out to be a brilliant captain, but the decision was not made on merit. He has not performed this role in domestic ODI cricket so far.
Shaheen deserves the captaincy in the T20 format –a role in which he has excelled. He captained his PSL side Lahore Qalandars to 3 titles and performed with both bat and ball. He shouldn’t have been sacked from the T20I captaincy in the first place. But if the selection committee were keen on giving him the leadership role, it should have been in T20Is rather than ODIs.
On the other hand, Muhammad Rizwan has not done much wrong either to be stripped of captaincy. He was the first player to captain his side to victory in an ODI series in Australia in 22 years. He was also the first captain to whitewash South Africa at their home. He was brilliant behind the wickets and in his role as a batsman as well. He is the second highest scorer for Pakistan in ODIs this year with 361 runs at an average of 36.
Apparently, PCB did not give any reason about Rizwan’s removal from the captaincy. There are bigger things at play here, and the decision to make Shaheen captain seems to have the backing from the higher-ups within the PCB. Former Pakistani players and critic pundits have criticized this decision. They are of the view that Lahore Qalandar’s lobby is behind this change.
Merit is taking a serious beating in PCB, and it is one of the biggest reasons behind the downfall of Pakistan cricket. And this decision is not first of its kind. One other eye-catching instance emerged when PCB announced the central contracts for the 2025-26 season. The test team captain Shan Masood was demoted to the D category in the central contracts, and Shadab Khan was put in B, which is the highest category. Shadab has not featured much in the Pakistani team due to a string of poor performances, but he got the top pay grade despite that. This clearly shows that there is something very wrong at the core of PCB management and selection committee.
If it keeps going on like this, the Pakistan team will fall behind the top teams of the world. The decisions should be based on merit and if someone is made captain, he should be given a long run so that the team may gel and perform. But as things stand and if the past is any indicator, Shaheen will not stay captain for long either. Soon there will be someone new taking the reins of the team and the circus will continue.
