Babar Azam has stepped down as Captain of the Pakistan team. The team’s performance was very average in the World Cup 2023. So, PCB announced two new captains of the Pakistan Cricket Team. Shaheen Shah Afridi will be the new Captain of the Pakistan cricket team in T20 format, and Shan Masood will be the new Captain. How will both new captains of Pakistan cricket team perform?
New Captains of Pakistan Cricket Team
Each player is extremely experienced. Shaheen Shah Afridi is Pakistan’s premier bowler right now. Shan Masood is a very talented player in red-ball cricket. Both players are capable of leading the team at big events.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, the New T20 Captain
Shaheen Shah Afridi made his international debut for Pakistan in 2018. He was highlighted in World Cup 2019 when he got 4 wickets in do a do-or-die match against the New Zealand team. After his brilliant performance in all game formats, Lahore Qalandar management decided to make Shaheen Afridi the new Captain of Lahore Qalandars. Before his captaincy, Lahore Qalandars only qualified once in the top 4. The New Captain of the Pakistan cricket team changed Lahore’s team completely.
Shaheen Shah Afridi was just 22 when he was announced as Captain of Lahore Qalandars. Lahore Qalandars was brilliant in that tournament. After losing qualifiers against Multan Sultan, they won the eliminator against Islamabad United. After that, Lahore Qalandars won the final of PSL 2022 for the first time in the history of PSL. Shaheen Shah Afridi was the youngest player to win any cricket trophy.
In 2023, Shaheen Shah was retained as the team captain. Lahore was again brilliant in the group stages and finished top. In the finals, they met Multan Sultan and won. Lahore Qalandars is the only team in the history of PSL to defend the title successfully. Shaheen Shah Afridi was the captain of both tournaments.
These are Shaheen Shah Afridi’s records in T20 cricket, proving that he is the right choice for one of the new Captains of Pakistan cricket team. Pakistan has a Brilliant record in T20. They played T20 matches more than any country. They are three-time finalist of the T20 World Cup and one-time champion. So, Shaheen Shah Afridi has a big responsibility to lead the team because of Babar Azam’s great Captaincy Record.
Shan Masood, the New Captain Test Captain
It was a bit of a surprise for the Pakistan Cricket fans to appoint Shan Masood as the new Captain of the Pakistan Cricket Team. Shan has vast experience in test and white-ball cricket. He played in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Shan Masood made a test debut for Pakistan in 2013. He was in and out of the team. He scored a total of four centuries and seven fifties in the test.
Multan Sultan made him the Captain in the 2020 edition of the PSL. Before that edition, Multan Sultan could not be in the top four. In the 2020 PSL edition, they finished the group stages as number 1. They failed to win in the final. They lost against Karachi Kings in the qualifier and lost against Lahore Qalandars in the eliminator. But Multan Sultan played decent cricket to be the table topper, as they finished 5 and 6 in 2018 and 2019.
Muhammad Rizwan replaced Shan Masood in the 2021 PSL. He was Captain of Yorkshire in 2023. He has experience of captaincy. But in test cricket, he plays a major role as Captain. His first assignment will be against Australia on their home soil. Pakistan has never won a test series against Australia in Australia.
Shan Masood has played 2 matches against Australia, which was in 2019. In these two matches, he scored 156 runs in 4 innings. In his last 20 innings, he has scored 4 centuries and 4 fifties. Also, he is an extremely fit player. So, he can make a difference with bat and his leadership skills.
It is still unknown how these two perform as the Captains. But we wish good luck to both new captains of Pakistan Cricket team so that they can improve Pakistan Cricket.
