Shaheen Afridi named Pakistan ODI captain

Shaheen Afridi has been named captain of the Pakistan ODI side with immediate effect. The left-arm fast bowler will begin his captaincy stint in the three-match ODI series against South Africa from November 4 to 8. He has replaced Mohammad Rizwan as the ODI captain who stepped up to the role last year after Babar Azam had relinquished his captaincy.

This will not be the first time that Afridi will lead Pakistan. In early 2024, Afridi had been named Pakistan's T20I captain but he led in only one bilateral series against New Zealand away from home. Pakistan won only the final game of that five-match series. Few months later, Babar was renamed captain of the T20I side before it moved to Salman Ali Agha last year.

The decision to make Afridi captain was finalised in a meeting with white-ball coach Mike Hesson, Director of High Performance Aqib Javed and members of the selection committee. Rizwan, on the other hand, led Pakistan in 20 ODIs starting with the 2-1 win against Australia in his first assignment alongside a famous 3-0 whitewash against South Africa in December 2024. But with a poor showing in the Champions Trophy where they were knocked out after two games, Pakistan have opted to move away from Rizwan in a captaincy role. He ends with nine wins and 11 defeats in his short captaincy tenure.

Afridi has been an integral part of Pakistan's white and red-ball squads with 194 international caps across the three formats.