Haben Agha und Shanaka eine Zukunft als T20I-Kapitäne? – ESPN

Both Pakistan and Sri Lanka have had a disappointing T20 World Cup. Pakistan at least had a shot at making the semi-finals when they played their last game of the Super Eight against Sri Lanka, but their opponents were out of the running even before that game. And now, as the dust settles on their campaigns, it's time to look at the future. And that future might not have the same people leading the two sides: Salman Agha for Pakistan and Dasun Shanaka for Sri Lanka. So the experts feel.

"I have a question mark," Urooj Mumtaz said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show when asked about Pakistan's T20I captaincy. Agha led Pakistan to four wins and two losses, including the one against India, and while that isn't terrible, his own performance with the bat was: 60 runs from six innings with a strike rate of 130.43. And 38 of those runs came in one innings, against Namibia. Tactically, too, Agha was often found wanting in pressure situations.

"I look down the list of 20 players that Pakistan has right now, and there's nobody really there who screams 'captain' to me. Or someone you pen down and say, 'right, he's playing all games and fits in as player number one in all games no matter what the conditions are'," Mumtaz said. "Yes, Sahibzada Farhan, in his current form, is brilliant. I don't think he is captain material just yet. And the rest of them - Shadab [Khan] has been through that cycle, Shaheen Shah Afridi has been through that cycle, Babar Azam has been through that cycle. So I am very clueless right now.

"At one point, Shadab had put his hand up for captaincy. That was a few years ago. I think he has a lot to prove in terms of his all-round cricketing ability. I think he is very short at this moment in terms of his batting and bowling against top-quality sides. Same with Shaheen. Yes, he picked up four wickets against England, but either side of that, he has lacked wicket-taking ability."

So does Agha continue, if only because there are no alternatives at the moment?

"Unless you sort of literally, say 'Sahibzada Farhan - two-year cycle, away you go' or somebody like a Saim Ayub, who was dropped but I don't think he will be dropped for long; I think he deserves a place in that XI," Mumtaz said. "Apart from that I don't see any captain material. So unless Pakistan has got a succession plan in place, probably continue with Salman Ali Agha till they find a replacement.

"I'd honestly, as much as he's disappointed with the bat at this point and the many tactical errors that were done, I'd still probably continue with Salman Ali Agha."

That's Pakistan. Sri Lanka are not in any less of a mess.

It was only in December 2025 that Shanaka returned as Sri Lanka's T20I captain after a failed experiment with Charith Asalanka.

"Looking at how things panned out in the last few days with Dasun Shanaka making some comments in the media, which didn't go down well with most of the cricket fans around the world and especially in Sri Lanka, I think [have someone else probably at the helm just to make sure to give [Shanaka] that freedom as a normal player," Farveez Maharoof said, referring to Shanaka pointing to the "negativity" from the country's fans after successive losses.

"When he's playing such as this [76 not out off 31 balls vs Pakistan], as I said, he's a good striker, so I reckon at the top, to just relieve his captaincy, probably give it to somebody else. I think next couple of years, the new think tank [after Sanath Jayasuriya's exit as head coach] should come in and make sure that from the next series, which is going to start in the few days' time, the new players will come in, it's the best time to do and give those couple of years for the leadership to get used to it, get the combination right. Because Sri Lanka I'm not sure [they know] whether to play six-five or seven-four [batters and bowlers], that's something that they need to nail down as well."

If not Shanaka, then who?

"You shouldn't be making any decision based on disappointment, based on performance in the last couple of days," Maharoof said. "It should be done in a proper way with proper planning in place, and also you have to consider some of the players' ages when it comes to couple of years' time. Will they be fit enough and will they be hungry enough to perform in a World Cup in 2028? All these has to be considered.

"Need of the hour. Looking from outside, working as an analyser of the side, I think it just needs a bit of tinkering up, a bit of changes. A bit of fresh air coming into the system will not hurt anybody. It's need of the hour in my opinion, and it might work, it might not work, but certainly I feel this is the way forward."