Babar Azam set to play under Mohammad Rizwan’s captaincy for Vancouver Knights in GT20 Canada

Pakistan captain Babar Azam will play under his teammate Mohammad Rizwan’s leadership for Vancouver Knights in GT20 Canada. The tournament will be played from July 25 to August 11.

The Vancouver-based franchise that won the inaugural title in 2018 has picked Rizwan for his ‘batting and sharp wicketkeeping’ skills for the fourth edition of the tournament.

For the unversed, Rizwan has led the Multan Sultans to 32 wins in 48 matches in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Under his leadership, the Sultans finished as runners-up in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 editions of the tournament.

On the other hand, Azam has managed 12 wins in 33 games in the PSL. He, however, led Pakistan to the 2022 T20 World Cup final, where they lost to eventual champions England. The Babar Azam-led side, though, crashed out in the group stage of the 2024 T20 World Cup.

Sharing a post on Instagram, Vancouver Knight wrote:

“Hear ye, hear ye! The Vancouver Knights have chosen their captain for GT20 Season 4: Sir @mrizwanpak! With his mighty batting skills and sharp wicketkeeping, he's ready to lead our charge to victory. Prepare for battle, Knights!”

A total of seven Pakistan players will play in GT20. They are Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Nawaz.

The tournament will also witness several star T20 players like Chris Lynn, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marcus Stoinis, Sunil Narine, Colin Munro, Sandeep Lamichanne, Shakib Al Hasan, David Wiese, and David Warner.

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“If I have to leave the captaincy, I will announce it openly” – Babar Azam on Pakistan’s captaincy after 2024 T20 World Cup exit

Last month, Babar Azam considered that he might step down from captaincy after Pakistan’s shock group-stage exit from the T20 World Cup. The 29-year-old said (via ESPNCricinfo):

"When I gave up the captaincy (in 2023), I thought that I shouldn't be doing it now, that's why I left it and I announced it myself.

"Then when they gave it back to me, it was the decision of the PCB. When I go back, we will discuss all that has happened here. And if I have to leave the captaincy, I will announce it openly. I will not hide behind anything. Whatever happens will happen in the open. But for now, I have not thought about it. It is eventually PCB's decision," he added.

Babar Azam will also be keen to return to form after managing just 122 runs in four innings at a strike rate of 101.66 at the ICC event.

Full squads for 2024 GT20 Canada

Vancouver Knights: Babar Azam, Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Jeremy Gordon, Rishiv Joshi, Sandeep Lamichhane, Dwaine Pretorius, Michael Rippon, Dipendra Singh Airee, Harsh Thaker, Ruben Trumpelmann, Paul van Meekeren, Sarmad Anwar, Mandeep Girdhar, Yuvraj Samra, Shubham Sharma, Ajayveer Singh.

Montreal Tigers: Chris Lynn, Aayan Afzal Khan, Dilpreet Bajwa, Gerhard Erasmus, Zahoor Khan, Tom Latham, Ben Manenti, Azmatullah Omarzai, Sherfane Rutherford, Mohammad Saifuddin, Kaleem Sana, Naveen-ul-Haq, Parveen Dhull, Yuvraj Hundal, Prabhasees Raina, Charanjit Randhawa, Anoop Ravi, Aaditya Varadarajan.

Surrey Jaguars: Marcus Stoinis, Uday Bhagwan Singh, Rizwan Cheema, Navneet Dhaliwal, Terrance Hinds, Ben Lister, Kyle Mayers, Brandon McMullen, Shreyas Movva, Mohammad Nabi, Sunil Narine, Junaid Siddiqui, Virandeep Singh, Harmeet Singh Baddhan, Hamza Tariq, Logan van Beek, Mansab Gill, Padam Joshi.

Toronto Nationals: Shaheen Afridi, Saad Bin Zafar, Rassie van der Dussen, Nikhil Dutta, Andries Gous, Rishad Hossain, Nicholas Kirton, Colin Munro, Mohammad Nawaz, Rohit Paudel, Romario Shepherd, Junaid Siddiqui, Dilraj Deol, Armaan Kapoor, Kanwar Mann, Jatinder Matharu, Mohammad Rohid Khan, Jagandeep Singh.

Bangla Tigers Mississauga: Shakib Al Hasan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Dillon Heyliger, Shoriful Islam, Rayyan Pathan, Pargat Singh, Odean Smith, Muhammad Waseem, David Wiese, Hazratullah Zazai, Gurbaz Bajwa, Navjot Dosanjh, Farhan Khan, Nav Pabreja, Ravinder Reddy, Gurpal Sidhu, Tajinder Singh.

Brampton Wolves: David Warner, Carlos Brathwaite, Josh Brown, Aryan Dutt, Jack Jarvis, Muhammad Jawadullah, Aaron Johnson, Abhijai Mansingh, George Munsey, Ravinderpal Singh, Kanwarpal Thagur, Andrew Tye, Beau Webster, Harmandeep Bahia, Kobe Herft, Akhil Kumar, Robin Singh, Samerjeet Singh.