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 just after the stumps of Day 1 in 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 even include the wicketkeeper-batter. Instead, it just 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 kickoff 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.
Since being appointed as the ODI captain in October 2024, after former skipper Babar Azam’s resignation, the gloveman has registered nine victories with a 45% win percentage, while leading the Men in Green 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 just 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 constant captaincy reshuffles across formats in the past two years after the 2023 ODI World Cup in India. Babar Azam resigned as the all-format skipper after the tournament and 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:
In just under two years, Pakistan have had four different white-ball captains — 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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