Shoaib Akhtar urges ‘awkward’ Mohammad Rizwan to stop pretending as captain

Former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar was left frustrated by wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan’s instructions from behind the stumps, during the first one-day international (ODI) against Zimbabwe in Rawalpindi.

Rizwan is being considered as one of the top contenders for Pakistan’s Test captaincy, along with current limited-overs skipper Babar Azam, in place of Azhar Ali.   

While speaking during the post-match show, Akhtar advised Rizwan to stop pretending as captain, for now, as his time will come in the future.

“Rizwan needs to speak less and not act as captain behind the stumps. He will be the captain in times to come but for now he needs to stop giving too many instructions to bowlers about where to bowl. Just tell him about what the batsman is trying to do and leave the rest to the bowler,” said Akhtar on PTV Sports.  

“It was very awkward and made me extremely uncomfortable. Also, without crowd noise these things get amplified when you are listening on television,” he added.

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Shaheen Shah Afridi grabbed five wickets and Wahab Riaz took four as Pakistan thwarted a fighting Zimbabwe to win the first ODI by 26 runs on Friday.

Afridi finished with 5-49 while Riaz had figures of 4-41 as Pakistan survived a brilliant knock of 112 by Brendan Taylor, who put Zimbabwe briefly on course for an upset as they chased a daunting 282-run target.

The win gives Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with the remaining matches at the same venue on Sunday and Tuesday.