The Pakistani cricket team’s leadership is always making headlines with frequent changes. Recently, Babar Azam stepped down as the captain of the ODI and T20 teams, choosing to focus more on his batting. This decision has sparked the question of who will lead Pakistan in these white-ball formats.
The drama started after Pakistan’s poor performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Following the tournament, Babar gave up captaincy in all formats. Shan Masood became the Test captain, and Shaheen Afridi took over T20s, but no one was named for ODIs.
Shan Masood’s time as Test captain has been tough. Under him, Pakistan lost two series – a 3-0 defeat in Australia and a 2-0 loss at home to Bangladesh. Things didn’t go much better for Shaheen Afridi, who led Pakistan to a 1-4 loss in a T20 series against New Zealand. Later, Babar was reappointed as T20 captain but didn’t achieve much success.
Now, with Babar leaving the white-ball captaincy, the question is who will lead. Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, and Haris Rauf are all potential candidates. Some experts also suggest that Shan Masood, Saim Ayub, or Shaheen Afridi could be considered. For now, it’s unclear who will take charge.