Rashid Latif, Amir, others slam ‘hasty’ decision to remove Rizwan as captain

Former wicket keeper batsman Rashid Latif, pacer Mohammad Amir and other cricket analysts have taken the Pakistan cricket authority to task for replacing Mohammad Rizwan with Shaheen Shah Afridi as one day international (ODI) captain.

Rizwan was appointed white-ball captain in October last year but the national side struggled for consistency under his guidance and failed to reach the knockout stages of the Champions Trophy earlier this year. Though the Green Shirts won series in Australia and South Africa under his captaincy, they suffered a 2-1 loss in West Indies in August.

Afridi also had a brief stint as Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain last year but that ended shortly after a 4-1 series defeat in New Zealand.

So, now Pakistan have three different captains in three cricket formats — Shaheen in ODI, Salman Agha in T20I and Shan Masood in Test.

Rashid said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has changed 10 skippers in less than two years under three managements. He believed that it was not by chance but by design, using “divide and rule” policy as a strategy to exploit cricketers.

Shaheen Afridi replaces Rizwan as ODI captain

““divide and rule” policy is a political strategy to gain and maintain power by creating and exploiting divisions within a population, such as religious, ethnic, cricket teams or class differences,” he wrote in a post on his X account.

He added Pakistan was the only country that could not even produce a decent captain.

Here’s the detail of change in captaincy in the national squad shared by the former skipper:

• 1- 13th March 2023 Shadab Khan to captain Pakistan against Afghanistan in Sharjah (Chairman Management Committee Najam Sethi)

• 2- 15th November 2023 Babar Azam resigned from captaincy in all three formats of the game. (Chairman Management Committee Zaka Ashraf)

• 3- 15th November 2023 Pakistan have appointed Shaheen Shah Afridi as their new T20I captain. (Chairman Management Committee Zaka Ashraf)

• 4- 15th November 2023 Shan Masood announced Test captain. (Chairman Management Committee Zaka Ashraf)

• 5- 29th March 2024 Shaheen Afridi Removed white ball captain (Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi)

• 6- 31st March 2024 Babar Azam announced T20 captain for the World Cup 2024. (Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi)

• 7- 1st October 2024 Babar Azam White ball captain Resigned (Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi)

• 8- 27th October 2024 Rizwan announced, White ball captain. (Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi)

• 9- 4th March 2025 Salman Ali Agha announced T20 captain. (Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi)

• 10- 20 October 2025 Shaheen Shah Afridi named ODI captain. (Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi)

Amir lambasted the team management for changing the captains after every few months on the basis of performance in a series. They could have made Shaheen vice captain, he said, adding that it was unfair to Rizwan.

“Rizwan was not a bad choice as a captain for ODI. His captaincy was not bad. He’s a smart captain.

“Don’t you forget that he won the series in Australia and South Africa which even big names failed to do. I think the decision has been taken in haste,” he said in a video statement on his Facebook page.

Furthermore, he said, he believed and had been saying that, Rizwan and Babar were not at all bad players. They could even be featured in T20I, given that they played with “the intent”, he maintained.

A cricket analyst Dr Nauman Niaz said if failure was the measure, then Shaan captained Pakistan to 9 defeats in 13 Tests. “He still sits unperturbed, seemingly unaffected by the winds that buffet others,” he wrote on his X account.

In 2024-25, Salman played 6 T20Is, scored just 50 runs at an average of 10.00, with a strike rate best described as nostalgic, 79.36, he added.

Meanwhile, a video of Rashid is also circulating on social media, wherein he claimed that Rizwan was removed from the captaincy because he spoke openly for Palestine and coach Mike Hesson didn’t like the culture he brought to the dressing room.