PCB slammed for removing Rizwan as Pakistan ODI captain; anti-betting, pro-Palestine stance among reasons speculated

Pakistan cricket witnessed another seismic shift on Monday with the country’s cricket board stripping wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan of ODI leadership and appointing pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi in his stead. The announcement came ahead of the three-match ODI series against South Africa at home that will be getting underway on 4 November and will mark the final leg of the Proteas’ tour of Pakistan.

Rizwan himself had assumed the role in the 50-over format after Babar Azam had resigned as Pakistan captain across formats after his team’s disappointing run in the 2023 ICC World Cup in India. He had briefly even led Pakistan in both white-ball formats, with Babar returning to captaincy in the 20-over format shortly before last year’s T20 World Cup and later getting sacked from the role after yet another dismal campaign in an ICC event.

The wicketkeeper-batter, however, was removed from T20I leadership in dramatic fashion in March with the PCB dropping both Babar and Rizwan from the squad for a five-match series in New Zealand in March. This was right after the ICC Champions Trophy where the Rizwan-led Pakistan failed to advance beyond the group stage after failing to win a single game despite being the home team.

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The PCB had appointed all-rounder Salman Ali Agha as the new T20I skipper back then, and chose to ignore both Babar and Rizwan for last month’s Asia Cup, where the Men in Green had finished runners-up.

And on Monday, the board decided to remove Rizwan as ODI captain as well, with Afridi now leading Pakistan in the 50-over game after a brief but unsuccessful stint as T20I captain – suffering a 1-4 series defeat in New Zealand in January 2024, his only assignment in the format.

A report by news agency Press Trust of India had suggested that Agha could also lose T20I leadership after Pakistan had lost to India thrice in as many meetings in last month’s Asia Cup. The board’s dramatic announcement on Monday, however, made no mention of the 31-year-old, suggesting that he might get a slightly longer rope.

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Anti-betting, pro-Palestine stance to blame for Rizwan’s exit from leadership? 

Rizwan’s removal from ODI captaincy might not necessarily be due to his leadership skills or performance with the bat. According to a report on The Times of India, Rizwan’s refusal to endorse betting companies is being seen by some in Pakistani cricket circles as the reason behind his removal from leadership.

“Rizwan had informed the PCB that he wouldn’t endorse betting companies, which is the main reason behind his sacking. He was against the PCB’s collaboration with surrogate betting firms,” a PCB source was quoted by the daily as saying.

Rizwan is known for being a devout Muslim and for ensuring the players performed ’namaaz’ (daily prayer) five times a day whichever part of the world they were playing in. He was also known for celebrating milestones such as centuries with a prayer gesture, and has even gone to the extent of praying on the field in the middle of an innings on certain occasions.

And betting being considered ‘haraam’ (taboo) in Islam might have something to do with the wicketkeeper-batter’s protest against the PCB’s collaboration with betting companies.

Rizwan was also a staunch supporter of the pro-Palestine movement and was known for expressing solidarity with Gaza – which has been ravaged by a bloody two-year conflict between Israel and Hamas – from time to time.

And as per former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif, it is Rizwan’s support for Palestine that might have cost him ODI captaincy, presumably due to the fact that it did not go down too well with current white-ball head coach Mike Hesson.

“There’s a rumour that Rizwan is no longer the captain. Just because he raised Palestine flag, will you remove him as captain? There’s this mindset that in Islamic country there will be a non-Islamic captain,” former wicketkeeper Latif said on his YouTube channel, reacting to the latest captaincy drama in Pakistani cricket.

“This is Mike Hesson’s doing. He doesn’t like this culture in the dressing room. He wants this culture to end. We never had a problem be it Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar or Saqlain Mushtaq. Nobody raised any objection…” he added.

Amir slams PCB’s ‘unfair’ decision’

Rizwan’s demotion was also criticised by former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir, who labelled the decision by the PCB is “unfair”.

“I don’t think Mohammad Rizwan has been treated fairly. Rizwan was not a bad one-day captain. He led Pakistan to series wins in South Africa and Australia - something even some of our biggest captains couldn’t achieve. We should not have forgotten that,” Amir told Geo Super.

Pakistan, meanwhile, have a different captain for each format, with Shan Masood having led Pakistan in Tests for more than a year now and Afridi and Agha managing the white-ball department in the ODI and T20I formats respectively.

The team also has different coaches for different formats with Hesson currently managing the team in the white-ball formats and former all-rounder Azhar Mahmood currently serving as interm Test coach.