Srinagar: Pakistan newly appointed T20 captain Salman Ali Agha has said that his young side will like to play fearless cricket as they embark on their journey to take on New Zealand in a T20I series.
Agha became Pakistan’s fourth T20I captain since January 2024 after Shaheen Shah Afridi, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.
Agha acknowledged the responsibility as a ‘challenge’ and shared his plans to play as per the requirements of modern-day cricket.
“It’s an honour for me and also a challenge,” Agha said at a press conference in Lahore. “We’ve brought a few youngsters into the team who have been playing the brand of cricket in domestic cricket that we want to play in the national side going forward.
“We have to focus on our intent and approach. We have to improve that. In modern-day cricket these things are important. This is a young team and we want to play fearless cricket. That is high-risk cricket, which is a requirement in modern cricket. There will be failures with that approach, but we have to support our players.”
Agha will have the services of Pakistan Super League-winning captain Shadab Khan as his deputy, who will be making his return to the national team since the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
“The reason for Shadab coming back is that he has good captaincy experience, plus also his mindset is to play aggressive cricket,” explained Javed.
“His mindset is important because as vice-captain, with Agha also thinking that way, Shadab will be good. The combination is good.”