On Monday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced Shaheen Shah Afridi as captain of the Pakistan men’s ODI team, replacing wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.
TimesofIndia.com has learnt that the reason behind Rizwan's removal as captain is his refusal to promote betting companies.
"Rizwan had informed the PCB that he wouldn’t endorse betting companies, which is the main reason behind his sacking. He was against the PCB’s collaboration with surrogate betting firms," a PCB source tracking the development told TimesofIndia.com.
Earlier this year, while playing for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), Rizwan had refused to wear and endorse the logo of a betting firm. He played wearing a jersey without the main sponsor’s logo, which belonged to a betting website.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Another potential reasoning for the removal, as per former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif, were Rizwan's comments about Palestine.
"If he has spoken about Palestine, will you remove him from captaincy?" said Latif on his YouTube channel Caught Behind.
"This mindset that there would be non-Islamic captains in an Islamic country is abysmal," he added.
Shaheen will lead Pakistan in the three-match ODI series against South Africa, scheduled to take place at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad from November 4 to 8.
Shaheen’s appointment for the upcoming series was finalised following a meeting held in Islamabad, attended by white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, Director High Performance Aqib Javed, and members of the selection committee.
Pakistan’s Captaincy Carousel: A Musical ChairPakistan cricket has witnessed a whirlwind of captaincy changes since 2023, with multiple players leading the side across formats under different PCB administrations.
It began on March 13, 2023, when Shadab Khan was appointed captain for the T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah under Najam Sethi.
Later that year, on November 15, 2023, a major shake-up took place. Babar Azam stepped down as captain from all three formats, and under Zaka Ashraf’s leadership, Shaheen Shah Afridi was named T20I captain while Shan Masood took charge of the Test team.
Fast forward to March 29, 2024, when Shaheen Afridi was removed as white-ball captain by new PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi. Just two days later, on March 31, 2024, Babar Azam was reinstated as T20 captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
However, Babar’s second stint was short-lived. On October 1, 2024, he resigned from white-ball captaincy again, paving the way for Mohammad Rizwan, who was appointed white-ball captain on October 27, 2024, still under Naqvi’s chairmanship.
The changes didn’t stop there. On March 4, 2025, Salman Ali Agha was named T20I captain, continuing the trend of rotating leadership.
Finally, on October 20, 2025, Shaheen Shah Afridi made a comeback to leadership, this time being appointed as Pakistan’s ODI captain, again under Mohsin Naqvi.
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