Image Credit- PCB
After eight years in the position, Sarfaraz Ahmed has
been replaced as Quetta Gladiators captain by Rilee Rossouw. Rossouw has named
Saud Shakeel as his deputy. For a while now, Gladiators have been thinking
about switching up the captain at the top, with Rossouw and Shakeel being the
front-runners.
Nevertheless, at the PSL draft in December, Sarfaraz
was formally named captain for the ninth season. Sarfaraz was present at the
PSL trophy reveal in Lahore on Tuesday morning along with the captains of the
other five franchises.
The new head coach of the team, Shane Watson, was
asked for his thoughts and was informed that the new coaching staff supported
changing the captaincy. Gladiators had debated between Saud and Rossouw for the
position, but it looks that Rossouw’s extensive PSL background and reputation
have prevailed.
No foreign player has ever amassed more runs in PSL
history than Rossouw, who has never captained a professional T20 match. His
total of 1867 runs came at a strike rate of 146.54. He played in two finals and
won the title with the Quetta Gladiators in 2019 during his three incredibly
successful seasons there from 2017 to 2019.
Over the next four seasons, he had another fruitful
tenure with Multan Sultans: the team made it to three finals and emerged
victorious in 2020, when Rossouw struck a half-century off just 21 balls in the
championship match.
The team has already reorganised its backroom
personnel, most notably with the appointment of Moin Khan to a directorship
following his departure as head coach. Former Gladiators player Watson has
taken his place. In an attempt to turn around their fortunes, the Gladiators,
who were the most consistent PSL team for the previous four years, have engaged
former Pakistan bowling coach Shaun Tait as their fast-bowling coach.
Franchise owner Nadeem Omar had spoken openly about
the possibility of removing Sarfaraz, saying on the Relukattay podcast it would
“be nicer” if Sarfaraz handed the captaincy over on his own.