Islamabad, Oct 22: Senior pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi will replace Muhammad Rizwan as the new ODI captain of Pakistan starting next month, the country’s cricket board has announced amid speculation that the sudden change of guard was pushed by white-ball head coach Mike Hesson.The PCB announced that Shaheen will lead Pakistan in the three-match ODI series against South Africa in Faisalabad from November 4-8. The decision, the board said, was taken at a meeting in Islamabad attended by the national selectors, advisory board members, and Hesson.
While the PCB has not cited any official reason for the switch, insiders believe Hesson’s recommendation served as a “springboard” to make the change.
Apart from Hesson’s insistence, the move has sparked a fresh round of speculation within Pakistan cricket circles about what else could have been a contributing factor to the PCB’s decision. There is also speculation that some officials in the cricket board were uneasy with Rizwan’s “growing tendency to involve religion in dressing room discussions”, something that also made some players uncomfortable.
