Shaheen will start his tenure from the upcoming ODI series against South Africa.
The reports about Shaheen Shah Afridi taking over Pakistan’s ODI captaincy from Mohammad Rizwan were already surfacing on the internet for the previous few days. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) finally made it official after the stumps of Day 1 of the ongoing PAK vs SA 2nd Test in Rawalpindi.
Notably, this is Pakistan’s third change in leadership in the last 12 months. Moreover, the press release from the PCB did not include the wicketkeeper-batter. Instead, it simply mentioned how a meeting between their selection committee and the limited-over head coach, Mike Hesson, led to Shaheen’s appointment as the 50-over skipper. The release also noted that the 25-year-old will start his tenure from the forthcoming ODI series, which will kick off on November 4 in Faisalabad, following the three 20-over matches after the ongoing red-ball fixture.
“A meeting of the selection committee, also attended by Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, decided that Shaheen will lead Pakistan’s ODI side against South Africa,” read the PCB statement.
After being appointed as the ODI captain in October 2024, following Babar Azam’s resignation, the gloveman had registered nine victories in 20 matches of the format.
This also included a stunning overseas run that witnessed consecutive 2-1 series victories in November 2024 against Australia and Zimbabwe, followed by a 3-0 whitewash win in South Africa. But the 33-year-old’s persistent lean patch of form and back-to-back away series defeats against New Zealand and the West Indies led him to lose the throne. But the approach that PCB adopted to replace Rizwan is almost similar to dumping Shaheen after one overseas T20I series in New Zealand.
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Previously, the management also made such abrupt and questionable decisions, including Shaheen’s dismissal as the T20I skipper just after the five T20Is in New Zealand in January 2024. After taking up the leadership duties in November 2023, the pacer was removed from the position just after his five-match captaincy tenure.
However, the seamer is currently all set to take up the leadership duties again in another white-ball format. He will look to kickoff the ODI captaincy stint on a high note to brush off a trouncing 4-1 defeat while leading the 20-over side against the Black Caps.
Pakistan cricket has gone through a number of captaincy reshuffles across formats in the past two years. After the ODI World Cup 2023 in India, Babar Azam resigned as the all-format skipper. While Shan Masood has been good as the red-ball captain, the limited-overs setup has seen multiple shuffles.
Here’s a quick look at the Pakistan white-ball captaincy timeline from the 2023 World Cup to October 2025:
Pakistan have had four different white-ball captains in the last 24 months – Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, and Salman Agha. Now with Shaheen back as ODI skipper two years before the 2027 World Cup, it remains to be seen what other changes could be in the offing.
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