PAK vs ENG: Mohammad Rizwan to become new Pakistan captain? Misbah-ul-Haq hails 32-year-old's leadership

Legendary Pakistan cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq spoke on the possibility of Mohammad Rizwan being Pakistan's next captain. Misbah reckons that Rizwan is smart, and shrewd and has been leading teams in domestic cricket.

Pakistan cricket team is currently going through a crisis. Currently, Babar Azam is the team's white-ball captain while Shan Masood is the red-ball captain. But Pakistan's performances have repeatedly gone down under their respective leaderships, thus putting pressure on both of them. They will next play England in a Test series next month.

Babar Azam led Pakistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 in June where the team bowed out of the group stage of the tournament and failed to qualify for the second stage. Meanwhile, Pakistan were recently whitewashed 2-0 by Bangladesh at home, which was one of the most embarrassing moments in their cricket history.

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Misbah-ul-Haq breaks silence on the possibility of Mohammad Rizwan being Pakistan's next captain

Since both captains are not performing well, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is desperately looking for the next captain. Mohammad Rizwan is certainly one of those options but the board officials have cited his age as the reason for his non-appointment for the role.

However, in the ongoing Champions One-Day Cup 2024, Mohammad Rizwan was appointed the captain of Wolves by the team mentor Misbah-ul-Haq. During the first match of Champions Cup 2024, Misbah stated that Mohammad Rizwan has been leading the teams right from the time he is playing domestic cricket and boasts a good amount of experience in leading the teams.

"Everybody knows that he (Mohammad Rizwan) is captaining at the domestic circuit for a long time. He is experienced, he is a very good captain at the PSL (Pakistan Super League) T20 format. He captained different teams at the domestic level," Misbah-ul-Haq said of Rizwan.

"He is smart, shrewd, and he leads the team with his own performances. So, he is always like that. Good to see him performing like that. Obviously, there is competition in the team," Misbah-ul-Haq added.

“Everyone knows Rizwan has been captain in domestic cricket for a long time and he is very good at job and a very smart leader.”

Misbah-ul-Haq

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— Abu Bakar Tarar (@abubakartarar_) September 12, 2024

Misbah-ul-Haq on Champions One-Day Cup

The former Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq also expressed his happiness to see the star international players rubbing shoulders with the domestic players in the Champions Cup.

"Everybody wants to do well whoever is captaining for the different sides. So, good to see that these star international players are playing there and they just want to prove their point and they want their team to basically win," Misbah-ul-Haq concluded.

The Champions One-Day Cup 2024 began on September 12 with Wolves taking on Panthers in the first match of the tournament. Wolves smashed 347-6 in the first innings thanks to a brilliant 115 from Kamran Ghulam and a 25-ball-62 from Abdul Samad. Rizwan scored 45 off 57 balls while batting at No. 4.

Panthers bowled out for a low score

In reply, the Panthers were bowled out for just 187 runs thanks to three-wicket hauls from Naseem Shah and Akif Javed. Apart from Amad Butt, who scored 72 off 84 balls, there was no significant contribution in the Panthers line-up. Panthers skipper Shadab Khan had a tough day as he scored 4 runs and returned figures of 0-35 in five overs.

Pakistan's next international assignment is the Test series against England which will begin on October 7. The two teams will play a three-match Test series and it will be a stern test for the home team, who are struggling in all the formats at the moment.