Not Shaheen Afridi or Mohammad Rizwan! Danish Kaneria wants this veteran to replace Babar Azam as Pakistan captain

Former Pakistan cricketer Danish Kaneria talked about the next captain of the team following the debacle in the T20 World Cup 2024. He claimed that the governing body should make Fakhar Zaman the leader and give him a pool of 20 players for the next year.

Pakistan National Cricket Team of late have been under a lot of scanner. There are a lot of dramas and controversies going around as there's no clarity about the roadmap of the team. This lack of clarity also led to the debacle in the T20 World Cup 2024, where they faced a group stage exit.

One of the major factors for the poor performances of Pakistan of late has been the management of the team. After the ICC World Cup 2023 in India, the team sacked Babar Azam as the captain and appointed Shaheen Afridi as the leader. But the fast bowler was given just a series to prove himself as he then was replaced by Babar Azam again.

The move to reappoint Babar Azam didn't work at all as Pakistan had a torrid outing in the T20 World Cup 2024. They suffered a group stage exit as they faced losses against the United States of America and India, which led to their ouster and saw them facing a lot of criticism.

Danish Kaneria believes that unless and until the right selection is made, Pakistan won't succeed. He highlighted the captaincy saga and claimed that Fakhar Zaman should be handed over to the leadership as Pakistan might play in the qualifying round of the T20 World Cup 2026. Speaking to Times Now, he explained:

"Pakistan cricket, until and unless they don't, don't put a right selection and right people in the right place and right guys, now the captaincy issue. Why did they drop Shaheen Afridi after one series, brought back Babar Azam and took the captaincy?

"I think, in my opinion, they should get Fakhar Zaman as a captain for the Pakistan team for the white ball and just give them one year and have 20 guys in the pool and just play with them. And then think about, because now they have to play a qualifying round of 2026."

The selection procedure is not going to help Pakistan cricket if they do like this - Danish Kaneria

Danish Kaneria further stated that Pakistan have been the world champions and they know how to get out of such things. But he made a strong statement, saying that if such a selection process continues, it won't help the team. He elaborated:

"So, Pakistan is a world, they are world champions. They have, they have their World Cup of 50, T20, everything is there. But procedure and the selection procedure is not going to help Pakistan cricket if they do like this."

It remains to be seen what will be the roadmap for the Pakistan team going ahead. There is no clarity if Babar Azam will be retained as the captain or not.