Pakistan has been eliminated from a home tournament that they have been hosting for the first time since 1996. It was a tournament that they were the defending champions of, making its return in 2017. And the one who is suffering the most is Captain Rizwan, who, in a personal opinion, has been wrongfully called out to be sacked as a leader.
The Champions Trophy was the most recent ICC Event Pakistan had won. And it was a fairytale end. Recent One Day series victories over Australia and South Africa, both overseas, made fans believe that the 2017 winners will defend at their own home, where they have lost just one series since international cricket’s return in 2020.
However, everything ended after Pakistan’s back-to-back losses against New Zealand and India, which more or less confirmed their elimination until it was official on Monday when New Zealand defeated Bangladesh. This was the third straight ICC event (and sixth straight multi-national event) that Pakistan failed to qualify for the knockout stages. And it is understandable how dishearted Pakistan fans are.
It is a bit too harsh to blame Muhammad Rizwan for being the “incompetent” captain. While his batting can be questionable at times, we need to understand that other factors have contributed to Pakistan’s failures in recent ICC events. We are going to examine a few factors that have damaged Pakistan cricket.
Also Read: Captain Rizwan: The right player to lead Pakistan
An Analysis of Captain Rizwan and his overall tenures
Rizwan is well known for his smart and active captaincy. He was in headlights when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won the Domestic T20 Cup 2020 under his leadership. He opened the batting in that domestic competition and played well, scoring almost 400 runs and being the 4th best run-scorer in the tournament. That changed his fate when it was noticed by higher management and asked him to open for Pakistan in the shortest international format.
As for the Pakistan Super League, Rizwan represented Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings until 2020. He was part of a successful Karachi team that won the fifth edition but was soon released from the roaster. Multan Sultans brought him and made him the team captain. The result was in front of you.
Multan never qualified for the final since their participation in PSL. Until Rizwan took over in 2021. Afterwards, they played all four finals till the 2024 edition. They won in 2021 but ended as runners-up in the next three. His PSL captaincy record is nothing short of brilliance. He led Multan to 48 games and won 32, where his win percentage of 66.66 is the best among all captains (who led in at least 10 games).
Pakistan Captaincy So Far
People called out Rizwan to be the next Pakistan captain, especially after Babar Azam’s resignation as the captain of all formats when Pakistan were eliminated in the group stage of the 2023 World Cup. However, he was not assigned as Shan Masood (Tests) and Shaheen Afridi (T20Is, later Babar took over again) were preferred.
After a horrible T20 World Cup in the West Indies and the USA, PCB finally called Rizwan to take over in white-ball cricket and Rizwan proved his worth. They played three series so far (before the Tri-series and the Champions Trophy) and Rizwan has a bit of mixed response; in ODIs, they have won all three in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. However, in T20Is, they lost two out of three.
Real Reasons Why Pakistan have been Terrible in recent multinational events
Four Chairmans. Eight Coaches. Four Captains. And at least 26 Selectors. When you have too many visions poured for your team, you will never know which is the right direction to go. There have been problem after problems in Pakistan Cricket Management and they have made a big mess in which they would not acknowledge.
Unstable leadership, poor planning, mediocre play, and an inability to adjust to the demands of modern cricket have all contributed to Pakistan’s downfall. The team may continue to suffer if these problems are not resolved.
Frequent captain changes have weakened the team’s foundation. Leadership’s lack of long-term vision has resulted in poor collaboration between teams and tactical mistakes. Consider Shaheen Afridi, who was relieved of his captaincy after just one series. This also comes for Head Coaches who were selected in the past. Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie were highly respected individuals with strong credentials and a clear vision for the team’s future and were removed.
Also Read: Local or Foreign Coaches, Pakistan Cricket Dilemma
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been criticized for regularly changing the team and benching important players without giving them regular opportunities. Selection disputes, such as ignoring players who are performing well and sticking with underachievers, have harmed the team’s balance.
The series victory over Australia and South Africa had a few notible names that unfortunately missed out from the Tri-Series and the Champions Trophy. Saim Ayub’s ankle injury was a big setback. But not selecting at least a few members, such as Irfan Khan Niazi and most importantly, Sufiyan Muqeem, has been a bigger blunder. The selection of Faheem Ashraf was the biggest controversy.
But all of these points against PCB will go unnoticed by the top management themselves. Once the Champions Trophy ends, the PCB management will do the same thing as they have been doing for a while; drop a few players, remove the current head coach and bring in a new one and put the current captain in trouble.
This constant chopping and changing has hurt Pakistan in more ways than one can imagine. And Rizwan will be the current scapegoat despite not being his fault.
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