In keeping with its rash decision-making, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dismissed Mohammad Rizwan as the men’s team’s ODI captain. Mohammad Amir, the former cricket player, is extremely disappointed that the board has now named Shaheen Shah Afridi, the Men in Green’s top pacer, as their new captain for the 50-overs team.
Shaheen was selected as captain for the forthcoming ODI series against South Africa at home before the squad was announced, but Amir feels that Rizwan was unfairly left out and that he is a very good leader, pointing to his series victories in difficult environments like Australia and South Africa.
Amir also feels that his input should not have been overlooked prior to the decision.
Mohammad Rizwan has not, in my opinion, received fair treatment. One-day skipper Rizwan was not a bad one. Even some of the greatest captains in our history were unable to lead Pakistan to series victories in South Africa and Australia. Geo Super cited the former Pakistani player as stating, “We shouldn’t have forgotten that.”
“Captainship shouldn’t be based on a single successful or unsuccessful series. All of us—former cricket players and commentators alike—are accountable for this. Stability is not permitted in our cricket. The process of building a captain takes two to three years. But a skipper can be replaced here after just one poor series. This is not, in my opinion, the appropriate call. He went on to say that Rizwan is a clever skipper with a talent for leadership.
The former cricket player who is now an expert also proposed that Shaheen may have been appointed captain by first serving as vice-captain and then evaluating his performance to determine the shift in leadership positions.
Amir came to the conclusion that Shaheen might have been named vice-captain first and his performance evaluated suitably, especially given his fitness, if he had to be named captain.