Salman Ali Agha is Pakistan's new T20I captain

Salman Ali Agha has been named as Pakistan's new T20I captain, taking over from Mohammed Rizwan as the side's leader in the shortest format. Here's why.

The PCB announced Pakistan's squads for their upcoming white-ball tour of New Zealand yesterday (March 4). The T20I squad in particular generated headlines, with Rizwan and Babar Azam both not included. Shadab Khan has also been brought back into the T20I set-up and has been named vice-captain in the format.

Saim Ayub remains absent with an ankle injury he picked up before the Champions Trophy. There are also fresh faces in the squad, including uncapped wicketkeeper Hasan Nawaz and batter Abdul Samad, as well as Omair Yousuf.

The biggest news, however, was that Salman Ali Agha had replaced Rizwan as T20I captain. Agha has captained Pakistan four times already in the format, against Australia in the final match of the three match series last year and again in Zimbabwe when Rizwan was rested. He has been the vice-captain of the side since October last year.

Why was Mohammed Rizwan dropped as captain?

The move to drop Rizwan comes after Pakistan's disastrous campaign in the home Champions Trophy. Pakistan failed to win a single match in the tournament and finished in last place in Group A. Rizwan has, however, retained his position as ODI captain. Given that he has also been dropped from the T20I squad, the reasoning behind that decision appears more based on Rizwan's T20I performance than leadership qualities.

Since the beginning of 2022, no batter has scored more runs at a higher average than Rizwan in T20Is. No Pakistan batter has a higher average than Rizwan in that time (44.37), with his nearest competitor who's played more than 10 matches (Babar) on 33.39. However, his strike-rate has come under criticism for not getting Pakistan off to fast enough starts at the top of the order.

As an opener, Rizwan has a strike rate of 127.70, which is lower than some of the most successful T20I openers in the world. Before his T20I retirement, Rohit Sharma's strike rate as an opener across his career in the format was 143.01, while Jos Buttler's strike-rate as a T20I opener is 153.10.

With Pakistan moving away from Rizwan as a batter, Agha became the front-runner to lead the side. The other options in the squad were Shadab Khan, who hasn't played a T20I since June last year when he was dropped, and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was also dropped as captain in the last 12 months. Thus, Agha was given the armband.

What is Agha's T20I record?

Despite being given the leadership of the side, Agha has only played six T20Is in his career, all of which came in November and December last year. He was dismissed for three consecutive single digit scores in Australia, where he was selected to bat in the middle-order, and did not bowl.

He had more success in Zimbabwe, where he was effective as a fifth/sixth bowler in the side and scored a run-a-ball 32 after a top-order collapse in the final game of the series. His overall T20I record reads six matches, 50 runs at an average of 10.00 with a strike-rate of 79.36, as well as two wickets at an economy of 5.20.

Speaking in a press conference on his announcement as captain, Agha promised to bring a more aggressive style of cricket to Pakistan's T20I side. "We have to focus on our intent and approach," he said. "We have to improve that. In modern day cricket, these things are important. This is a young team and we want to play fearless cricket. That is high-risk cricket, which is a requirement in modern cricket. There will be failures with that approach, but we have to support our players."

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