Shaheen Shah Afridi becomes third Pakistan ODI captain in 12 months; fans joke ‘captainship captainship khel rahe he’

Chaos in Pakistan cricket refused to end as the Board on Tuesday appointed Shaheen Shah Afridi as the new ODI skipper of the side, replacing Mohammad Rizwan. Shaheen Afridi's first assignment will the ODI series against South Africa, starting on November 3.

The axing of Rizwan was on cards after the wicketkeeper-batter led the Pakistan to a disastrous ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign before bilateral series losses in New Zealand and the West Indies. Having been handed captaincy in 2024, Rizwan had success during his initial days.

Under Rizwan, Pakistan won ODI series in South Africa, Australia and Zimbabwe. But his recent failures led the management appoint Shaheen Afridi, for a second term. The left-arm pacer has led Pakistan in five T20Is against New Zealand for a short period after 2023 ODI World Cup.

Shaheen Afridi has been leading Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League for the last few years. “Shaheen’s appointment for the upcoming series was finalised today following a meeting held in Islamabad, which was attended by white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, Director High Performance Aqib Javed and members of the selection committee,” a release by PCB said on Monday.

PCB's decision to appoint Shaheen Afridi became a matter of joke on social media with fans pointing out the cricket board changed their ODI captain thrice in 12 months. “Ye log captainship captainship khel rahe he...,” wrote an user on X. “In Pakistan, Jitna worst performance utna Promotion,” another wrote.

“Iski team mai pichle 2 saal se jaggah nahi thi, literally 2-3 good matches of Asia cup and 1 spell in the test match and he is your captain!” another said. “Inka har shaal Captain badalta rehta hai. Waise Rizwan mein problem kya thi? Usne to Australia aur South Africa se series jeetayi thi?”

PCB's merry-go-round on ODI leadership

After Mohsin Naqvi took charge in February 2024, the Pakistan cricket have chopped and changed repeatedly. The PCB first removed Shaheen Afridi and brought Babar Azam as white-ball skipper in the first half of 2024. However, owing to Pakistan's group stage exit from the T20 World Cup 2024 under Babar, Mohammad Rizwan was given the reins.

So far, Shaheen Afridi has played 66 ODIs and 92 T20Is, and took a combined 249 wickets. In the longest format, excluding the ongoing second Test against South Africa, the left-arm pacer took 120 wickets in 32 matches so far. Salman Ali Agha and Shan Massod are the Pakistan captains in T20Is and Tests.

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