Shadab Khan betrayed; shot in the foot by PCB for Pakistan captaincy

Allrounder Shadab Khan was considered for Pakistan's T20I captaincy for the tour of New Zealand. However, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ultimately rejected the offer and decided to go ahead with Salman Ali Agha.

While he was not appointed the captain, Shadab Khan became the team's vice-captain and served as the deputy to Salman Ali Agha for the T20I series against New Zealand. Pakistan eventually lost the five-match T20I series 1-4.

Also read: BCCI Central Contracts: Board makes a final decision on Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer

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PCB considered Shadab Khan for Pakistan's T20I captaincy

According to a report in Cricket Pakistan, Shadab Khan was initially considered for the role of captaincy during Pakistan's T20I series against New Zealand but the proposal was ultimately rejected by the PCB.

Shadab Khan has prior experience of leading the PSL team Islamabad United and even led the team to the PSL title win last year. Shadab had played a key role with both bat and ball, and even emerged as the Player of the tournament.

However, they rejected the idea of Shadab becoming the T20I captain after discussions with the selectors. The PCB consulted their five mentors - Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq, Waqar Younis, Misbah-ul-Haq, and Shoaib Malik - before selecting the squad for the New Zealand tour.

These mentors were earlier blasted for their role in Pakistan's squad selection in the Champions Trophy, where the team crashed out of the group stage. However, the mentors made it clear that they were not considered for the selection of the squad.

Salman Ali Agha takes T20I captaincy

The board insisted on giving opportunities to the other players ahead of the T20 World Cup next year. They ultimately appointed Salman Ali Agha as the captain. Agha has been Pakistan's stand-out performer across formats over the last few months, and he was duly rewarded.

Salman emerged as Pakistan's highest run-getter of the T20I series with 167 runs in five matches at an average of 41.75 and a strike rate of 135.77. On the other hand, Shadab Khan scored just 58 runs and picked up a solitary wicket while going at 11 runs per over.

The PCB wants to give the younger players more chances despite Pakistan's heavy defeats recently. The board wants to emulate an aggressive mindset in the team and feels that the youngsters need to be given the freedom to perform.

As a result, they gave Usman Khan a chance to open the batting in the first ODI to bat with an attacking intent at the top and make full use of powerplay restrictions. Usman struck 39 off 33 balls but was unable to play a big knock.

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan have already been dropped

Big players like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were also dropped from the T20I team for this reason, as the board insisted on including young blood in the T20I squad. However, both Babar and Rizwan are a part of the ODI squad.

Babar top-scored for Pakistan in the first ODI with a fine 78 off 83 balls. Rizwan, who was retained as a captain despite Pakistan's Champions Trophy debacle, scored 30 off 34 balls.

After losing the T20I series, Pakistan are currently trailing the three-match ODI series 0-1 as they lost the first match in Napier. The second ODI will be played on April 2 in Hamilton.