In the aftermath of Babar Azam’s resignation, the PCB have appointed Shan Masood and Shaheen Shah Afridi as the next captains of Pakistan’s Test and T20I sides respectively.
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Pakistan had an average outing at the 2023 World Cup, finishing fifth with eight points in nine matches. On November 15, four days after Pakistan’s last match of the World Cup, captain Babar Azam stepped down as captain – not only from ODIs but across all three formats.
The Pakistan Cricket Board relieved Babar of his duties both limited-overs formats, but asked him to continue as captain in Test cricket. However, upon consultation with his family, Babar resigned from all three formats, according to a statement put out by the governing body.
Between 2021 and 2023, Babar had led Pakistan in 20 Test matches, winning 10 and losing six. He had been leading Pakistan in white-ball cricket since before the pandemic, and had led them to the 2022 T20 World Cup final.
In 43 ODIs, Pakistan won 26 matches under Babar and lost 15. In 71 T20Is – the most a captain has led in in Pakistan history – they had won 42 and lost 23.
The PCB subsequently named Babar’s successors. Shan Masood will lead them in Test cricket, while Shaheen Shah Afridi will be their next T20I captain. Shaheen was initially announced as white-ball captain, but the social media posts confirming that appointment were quickly deleted. Pakistan do not have an ODI scheduled in the coming 12 months.
Presenting our captains 🇵🇰@shani_official has been appointed Test captain while @iShaheenAfridi will lead the T20I side. pic.twitter.com/wPSebUB60m
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) November 15, 2023
From 28 Test matches, Shan has made 1,597 runs at 28.51. These include three consecutive hundreds in 2019/20 and three consecutive ducks in 2021/22. He has led Multan Sultans in the PSL, Southern Punjab in Pakistan domestic cricket, and Derbyshire and Yorkshire in county cricket. Pakistan had named him vice-captain earlier this year – but in ODIs.
Shaheen led Lahore Qalandars to consecutive PSL titles in 2022 and 2023. During the first of these, he became the youngest captain to win a franchise-based T20 league. From 52 T20Is, Shaheen has 64 wickets at 22.73 apiece, while going at 7.63 an over.
Notably, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq had also resigned during the World Cup, while bowling coach Morne Morkel resigned following its conclusion.
