NEW DELHI: With star batter Babar Azam recently relinquishing white-ball captaincy, the Pakistan Cricket Board has a tough choice to make in appointing his successor.
Amid Pakistan Cricket’s recent downfall and the heavy criticism that the team and the board have been facing, the appointment of new skipper will be something keenly observed and dissected by fans and experts alike in the country.
And former Pakistan cricketer Mudassar Nazar feels that the board doesn’t have any choices left and will be forced to go with Mohammad Rizwan as their next captain.
“Right now, they don’t have any choice left. They’ve tried everyone except Rizwan. They’ll have to make Rizwan the captain. I don’t think the inner circle and top management are very happy with Rizwan, but they’ll be forced to choose him. Otherwise, if they go for a younger player, it will turn into the same situation like with Babar Azam. It’s better to make a senior player the captain and then groom someone under him,” Nazar told Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan Cricket’s poor run in the white-ball format started with the 2023 ODI World Cup in India where they lost to Afghanistan and subsequently failed to qualify for the semis.
The T20I team under Babar, then, suffered a shock group stage exit from the T20 World Cup in the Americas where they lost to minnows USA.
Recently, the Test team under Shan Masood also suffered an embarrassing 2-0 whitewash at home against Bangladesh.
“In my opinion, it would be better for Pakistan to make Rizwan the captain for all three formats. The recent poor performances of the Pakistan team have a lot to do with the rapid changes in captaincy. Young players were made captains and then removed, which leads to groupings in the team. This isn’t just Pakistan’s problem,” Nazar said.
Pakistan’s next assignment is the three-Test series against England at home where eyes will be on the performances of the senior players in the team.