Pakistani cricket legend Misbah-ul-Haq has spoken about the possibility of Mohammad Rizwan being Pakistan’s next captain. Misbah considers Rizwan to be intelligent and astute and has led teams in domestic cricket.
Pakistan cricket team is currently going through a crisis. Currently, Babar Azam is the captain of the team in the white ball while Shan Masood is the captain in the red ball. But Pakistan’s performance has repeatedly dipped under their respective leaderships, putting pressure on both of them. They will play England in a Test series next month.
Babar Azam led Pakistan at the 2024 T20 World Cup in June, where the team was eliminated from the group stage of the tournament and failed to qualify for the second leg. Meanwhile, Pakistan was recently defeated 2-0 by Bangladesh at home, which was one of the most embarrassing moments in their cricket history.
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Misbah-ul-Haq breaks silence on Mohammad Rizwan being Pakistan’s next captain
With both the captains not performing well, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is desperately looking for a new captain. Mohammad Rizwan is certainly one such option, but the board officials have cited his age as the reason for not being appointed to the post.
However, in the 2024 Champions One-Day Cup, team mentor Misbah-ul-Haq appointed Mohammad Rizwan as the captain of Wolves. During the first match of the 2024 Champions Cup, Misbah stated that Mohammad Rizwan has been leading teams since he has been playing domestic cricket and has vast experience in managing teams.
“Everyone knows that he (Mohammad Rizwan) has been captaining the domestic circuit for a long time. He is experienced, he is a very good captain in the T20 format of the PSL (Pakistan Super League). He has captained different teams at the national level,” Misbah-ul-Haq said of Rizwan.
“He is intelligent, clever and he leads the team with his own performances. So he is always like that. It is good to see him perform like that. Obviously, there is competition in the team,” Misbah-ul-Haq added.
“Everyone knows that Rizwan has been a captain in domestic cricket for a long time and he is very good at his job and a very intelligent leader.”
Misbah-ul-Haq
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– Abu Bakar Tarar (@abubakartarar_) September 12, 2024
Misbah-ul-Haq on the One-Day Champions Cup
Former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq also expressed his happiness at seeing star international players rubbing shoulders with national players at the Champions Cup.
“Everyone wants to do well, no matter who is the captain of the different teams. So it’s good to see that these star international players are playing there and they just want to prove themselves and want their team to win basically,” Misbah-ul-Haq concluded.
The 2024 Champions One-Day Cup began on September 12 with Wolves taking on Panthers in the tournament opener. Wolves cruised to 347-6 in the first innings thanks to a brilliant 115 from Kamran Ghulam and a 25-ball 62 from Abdul Samad. Rizwan scored 45 off 57 balls while batting at number 4.
The Panthers were eliminated by a low score
In reply, the Panthers were bowled out for just 187 runs thanks to three wickets from Naseem Shah and Akif Javed. Apart from Amad Butt, who scored 72 off 84 balls, there was no significant contribution from the Panthers line-up. Panthers captain Shadab Khan had a tough day as he scored 4 runs and returned figures of 0-35 in five overs.
Pakistan’s next international assignment is the Test series against England, which will begin on October 7. The two teams will play a three-match Test series and it will be a tough test for the home team, which is struggling in all formats at the moment.
