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Following their early elimination from the 2025 Champions Trophy, Pakistan's selection panel made a bold decision by dropping three former captains from one format for the forthcoming series against New Zealand: Shaheen Afridi was dropped from the ODI team, and Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were dropped from the T20I squad. Rizwan took over as Pakistan's white-ball captain in October 2024. Although none of these players have responded to their dismissal, Babar's brother, Safeer Azam's brother, made a post which is believed to be an indirect dig at PCB. He shared a photo of Babar's ICC T20I Team of the Year cap on Instagram.
Babar returned as Pakistan's T20I captain for the 2024 World Cup, scoring 738 runs in 24 T20Is and hitting six half-centuries while batting at an average of 33.54. The Men in Green had a forgettable tournament run, losing to the USA and crashing out of the league stage.
Before Babar, the T20I team was led by Shaheen Afridi, a left-arm pacer who was fired after just one series. In October 2024, Rizwan took Babar's place as Pakistan's white-ball captain, but the team failed to win a T20I under him. Salman Agha took over as T20I captain, and the wicketkeeper-batsman will remain the ODI captain.
Pakistan suffered early exit from the Champions Trophy
The Men in Green began their campaign with a loss to New Zealand, then struggled against India, losing their second game to crash out, and their third game, against Bangladesh, was rained out. India has advanced to the CT final and will play either South Africa or New Zealand in the summit match on March 9 in Dubai. Pakistan struggled in the 2025 Champions Trophy and crashed out from the league stage.
