News
IPL
Indian Cricket Team
Women's World Cup 2025
International Cricket
Women’s Premier League (WPL)
Features
Watch
Interviews
Social Reactions
Contact
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy

Behind The Scenes: Why Mohammad Rizwan Was Stripped Of Pakistan ODI Captaincy

Disha Asrani

The PAK vs SA ODI series will begin on November 4.

While the PAK vs SA 2nd Test is underway in Rawalpindi, Mohammad Rizwan was stripped of his ODI captaincy role. Instead, Shaheen Shah Afridi is named as the new leader in the 50-over format. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) explained what happened behind the scenes before making a drastic decision. After the home Test series, they will continue to host South Africa for three T20Is and ODIs each.

Why Mohammad Rizwan was Stripped of Pakistan ODI Captaincy

Oddly, the reason behind taking away Rizwan’s ODI leadership is not his recent failure with the bat. According to a Times Of India report, the player refused to promote certain brands during his tenure.

“Rizwan had informed the PCB that he wouldn’t endorse betting companies, which is the main reason behind his sacking. He was against the PCB’s collaboration with surrogate betting firms,” a PCB source stated.

During Rizwan’s stint with St Kitts and Nevis Patriots last month for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), the wicketkeeper-batter wore a different jersey than the rest of his team. He wore a jersey without the main sponsor’s logo, which belonged to a betting website.

However, former captain Rashid Latif believes the demotion is due to the gloveman’s comments on Palestine.

“If he has spoken about Palestine, will you remove him from captaincy? This mindset that there would be non-Islamic captains in an Islamic country is abysmal,” said Latif on his YouTube channel Caught Behind.

The 33-year-old had an abysmal record as ODI captain, winning just nine out of 20. While his average remained more or less the same, his strike rate dropped significantly from 90 to 75 after taking up the captaincy role.

Overall, Rizwan has made more than 2,700 runs in 85 innings at an average of 40 and a strike rate of 86. He has struck four centuries in his decade-long career. In his last 10 innings, he has struck a century and a half-century. However, his previous century dates back to October 2023, defining the long gap and his lack of form in 50-overs cricket.

ALSO READ:

The Ongoing Instability in Pakistan’s White-Ball Leadership

Pakistan continue to rotate captains across formats, with the T20 leadership seeing the most volatility. Interestingly, these changes have often taken place in March and October in recent years. In early 2023, Shadab Khan was appointed as the T20I skipper, while Babar Azam continued to lead in the other two formats.

Seven months later, Babar quit captaincy from all formats, which led to Shan Masood taking over in Tests, and Shaheen Shah Afridi taking charge in T20Is. In October, Shaheen was named captain of ODIs too. But two days later, Babar returned to captaincy for the T20 World Cup 2024.

After leading Pakistan for four to five months in his second stint, Babar stepped down again in October. This led to Mohammad Rizwan taking over the reins in white-ball cricket. Come March, Salman Ali Agha became the T20I captain. As the trend continues, Rizwan’s leadership ends this month.

As of date, Shan Masood is the Test captain, Shaheen Afridi is the ODI captain, while Salman Agha is the T20I captain.

Pakistan won the first of the two Tests against South Africa in Lahore. The Rawalpindi Test is underway. The T20Is will begin from October 28, while the ODIs will commence on November 4.

For more updates, follow CricXtasy on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.