Star wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has been appointed as the new white ball captain for Pakistan after Babar Azam stepped down from the role on October 2. Three ODIs in Australia is the first series for Muhammed Rizwan as captain. Rizwan expressed his pride in the opportunity to lead the Pakistan national team, stating that he is prepared for the challenge as he made a confident statement to lead his team to victory in Australia.
Rizwan claimed that the Pakistan team will meet the expectations of the nation and fans.
Pakistan will face Australia on November 4 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the first ODI. Second and third ODI will played on 8 and 10 November respectively. After that the two teams will face off in the T20 series that will kick off at Brisbane, The Gabba on 14 November, Pakistan will play three T20Is.
“There’s no doubt that we’ve faced difficulties in Australia because when you look at the past results, they show that we had some problems there, In the last series we played in Australia, every match was almost ours to win, but we lost very closely. We have noticed a few things and will work on them when we go there, taking positives from it. Inshallah, we will beat Australia in Australia”. Rizwan said in a video released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
🗣️ @iMRizwanPak shares his thoughts on being appointed Pakistan's white-ball captain, expressing his commitment to fulfilling this responsibility and taking the team forward 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/SzroybEGKv
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 28, 2024
In 2021, Rizwan joined Multan Sultan as captain and led his team to victory in his first season as captain, while finishing runner-ups in the next two seasons (2022 and 2023). He also managed to score 1596 runs from 2021-2023 winning Hanif Mohammed Cap for being the highest run scorer in PSL 8. He is the only batsman to score 500+ runs in 3 PSL seasons.
He also led Markhors in Champions One Day Cup in 2024 where they played 4 matches and won three of them and topped the table with 38 points.
In 2019, Rizwan was appointed as the captain of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the 2019-2020 Quaid-e-Azam trophy tournament. He was retained as captain by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the 2020-2021 domestic season.
Pakistan last tasted victory in 2002 when Waqar Younis’s side defeated Ricky Pointing’s side. Also, on Australian soil, Pakistan last won the ODI in 2017, with its last T20I victory coming in 2010. In their recent ODI and T20 series, Australia won by 4-1 and 2-0 respectively.
Read More: Mohammad Rizwan Is Pakistan’s New White Ball Captain; Agha Salman to Lead Team in Zimbabwe T20Is
Jasir Basharat is a cricket enthusiast capturing the heart of the game through insightful analysis and storytelling sharing his passion for the sport through engaging narratives. He is a business graduate from University of Kashmir.
