Mohammad Rizwan handed Pakistan white-ball reins; Salman Ali Agha vice-captaincy

LAHORE, Oct 27 :The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday appointed wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan as captain of the Pakistan white-ball cricket teams while young all-rounder Salman Ali Agha will serve as his deputy in the ODI and T20I teams.
Addressing a press conference alongside convenor pf the men’s selection committee Aqib Javed, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha and Azhar Ali at the PCB headquarters, Gaddafi stadium here, Chairman PCB Mohsin Naqvi said that the decision to hand white-ball reins to Mohammad Rizwan was unanimous, expressing the hope that he will take the team forward after Babar Azam relinquished the charge.

Clarifying on the Babar Azam’s decision to forego white-ball captaincy, Mohsin Naqvi said that Babar took the decision of his own accord, adding that he did consult his coaches before informing him to relinquish captaincy and focus on his batting.
“Babar Azam is once in a life-time cricketer and an asset of the Pakistan cricket. But we must respect the right of an individual cricketer to make decisions,” Naqvi said, adding no one from the PCB contacted him for such a decision.
On exclusion of Fakhar Zaman from the central contracts list and the Australia, Zimbabwe bound squads, Chairman PCB said that Fakhar Zaman’s exclusion was more to do with his fitness problems rather than the violation of the PCB code of conduct on Babar Azam’s axing from the test squad. He said the PCB will constitute a committee to decide on his public outcry against the PCB decision once his reply to the show cause is received.
However, he assured that the PCB admired Fakhar Zaman’s straight talk on the PCB International cricket affairs during the Connection Camp, adding that remedial measures are being taken to set things straight in the department.
Naqvi hailed the PCB selection committee for their hard work for taking Pakistan cricket forward, adding that he expected Pakistan cricket to flourish under the current set-up.
On the Chief selector, Chairman PCB said that Aqib Javed was the convenor of the men’s selection committee and the force behind all the efforts being put up by the PCB selection committee.
Convenor of selection committee Aqib Javed, to a query, said there was need to develop good combinations in batting and bowling, adding that Pakistan cricket has good future in white-ball cricket as well.
On the absence of Shadab Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed, he said a team is selected keeping in view form of the players and the conditions, adding that both were good players and have a lot of cricket left in them.
Incumbent captain Mohammad Rizwan, to a query, said there was no group or politics in the team, adding that Pakistan is his group and focus of all cricket and he hailed the efforts of the PCB for the future of country’s cricket.
‘A captain has to serve as servant of the 15-member squad. All team members have experience in captaincy and all 15 members will have their voice in the team,’ Rizwan added.
Rizwan said the focus of the Pakistan cricket is to provide long-term solutions and the inclusion of the domestic performers in the team is the step towards serving the cricket in the long run. He said the selectors and the mentors are trying to bridge the gap between the domestic and international cricket, adding that raw talent is being provided opportunities to be at par with the senior cricketers.
To a query, Rizwan said he has full voice in the team matters.
The 32-year-old Mohammad Rizwan, who debuted in white-ball cricket in 2015, has played 74 ODIs and 102 T20Is to date, scoring 5,401 runs with four centuries and accounting for 143 dismissals behind the stumps. As he leads the team in the opening ODI against Australia in Melbourne on 4 November, Rizwan will become Pakistan’s 31st captain. For the first T20I in Brisbane on 14 November, he will be the 12th to captain Pakistan in the format.