Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan Being Discussed As Captaincy Replacements For Babar Azam

The alarm bells are ringing for Babar Azam whose captaincy is under severe threat after Pakistan’s three back-to-back losses in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023.

Shaheen Afridi, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mohammed Rizwan are being discussed as potential candidates to replace Babar Azam as Pakistan captain after the national side returns home post the ODI World Cup. There have been a lot of questions on Babar’s leadership in the ongoing ten-team tournament with three successive defeats.

The campaign started off on a promising note with two wins against Netherlands and Srilanka but the defeats against India, Australia and Afghanistan of late have seen the Green Army slump to fifth place in the points table. With four matches remaining, Babar and Co. will have to win all of their remaining games to keep their fate in their hands in the race for the World Cup semifinals.

According to a report in PTI, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are seriously pondering replacing Babar as captain of the team. Former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed, wicketkeeper batter Muhammad Rizwan and star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi are among the candidates as the next captain.

After the World Cup, Pakistan are scheduled to tour Australia and will then kick-start preparations for the 2024 T20 World Cup. If Pakistan fail to qualify for the semifinals of the ODI World Cup in India, they could have a new captain and a new coaching staff as well by the time they take the flight for Australia.

“Only if Pakistan can stage a miracle and win all their remaining matches to qualify for the semi-finals of this World Cup does Babar stand any chance of surviving as captain and even then he might be relegated to skipper in just the red ball format,” a source close to the developments told PTI.

The report further adds that PCB are likely to go for split captaincy for its red-ball and white-ball teams.