Pakistan drop captain Salman Ali Agha from T20I squad

Pakistan have not only sacked but dropped captain Salman Ali Agha from their T20I squad for the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka. Sahibzada Farhan, who led them to the silver medal at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, has been named their new captain for the series. 

The three T20Is will be played at Rawalpindi, on October 9, 11, and 13. The squad also does not include star players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, or Haris Rauf. Razaullah, who had a sensational Test debut in England last month, has received a maiden call-up in the format.

Pakistan squad for T20I series vs Sri Lanka

Sahibzada Farhan (c), Khawaja Nafay (wk), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Arafat Minhas, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Maaz Sadaqat, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan, Sufiyan Moqim

Pakistan’s captaincy carousel since the 2023 World Cup

Only three years ago, Babar Azam was Pakistan’s T20I captain (well, almost: Qasim Akram led a second-string side in the 2023 Asian Games). At that time, Babar was Pakistan’s captain in all three formats.

A disappointing run at the 2023 World Cup ended Babar’s stint at the helm (temporarily, that is). Shan Masood was named Test captain, while Shaheen Shah Afridi was put in charge of T20Is. The latter lasted one series, in New Zealand in early 2024. Babar was promptly reinstated after that. 

Pakistan did not play an ODI until the 2023 World Cup. By the time they did, Mohammad Rizwan had been named their captain in both limited-overs formats (in other words, Babar lost his captaincy twice in a year).

Salman Ali Agha stepped in when Rizwan sat out of the Zimbabwe tour of late 2024, but Rizwan returned for the South Africa leg of that tour. When it got over, he was replaced by Agha. To be fair, Rizwan lost all four matches as captain.

Agha enjoyed a long stint, until February 2026, when he became the second pplayer (after Babar) to lead Pakistan in 50 T20Is. In October 2026, Sahibzada Farhan led Pakistan in the Asian Games. Pakistan won silver there, which prompted the selectors to not only sack Agha but drop him from the T20I squad altogether.

Meanwhile, Shaheen replaced Rizwan as ODI captain in November 2025, while Masood made way for Babar in Test cricket in July 2026.

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