Iftikhar Ahmed: “For me, if you compare everywhere, I think Rizwan is the best option. It’s not because he is my friend or that we play for the same club, Multan Sultans. If you assess our options, Rizwan is the best choice and he can improve”
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Pakistan big-hitting batsman Iftikhar Ahmed wants Mohammad Rizwan to continue on as ODI captain, but insisted that he didn’t pick the wicketkeeper-batsman since they are friends.
Iftikhar noted that Rizwan is the best choice for the role as there is no one else who is as qualified as him.
The 33-year-old also used to lead Pakistan in T20Is, but was replaced by Salman Ali Agha prior to the limited overs tour of New Zealand.
It remains to be seen if Rizwan will continue captaining the men in green in the 50-over format, but Iftikhar stressed that he wouldn’t remove the Peshawar native right now.
“For me, if you compare everywhere, I think Rizwan is the best option. It’s not because he is my friend or that we play for the same club, Multan Sultans. If you assess our options, Rizwan is the best choice and he can improve,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Rizwan was recently in charge of the Multan Sultans in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and accumulated 367 runs in 10 games, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 52.42 and a strike-rate of 139.54.
Despite doing well in PSL 10, Rizwan was not picked for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, which the men in green won 3-0.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub
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