Flower hopes Rizwan to lead Multan Sultans from front

Head coach Andy Flower has no qualms that Multan Sultans will perform better under their new captain Mohammad Rizwan in the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 after last year's heartbreaking defeat during the playoffs.

The former Zimbabwe stalwart, while addressing a pre-tournament media conference, said Rizwan being the Pakistan vice-captain deserves recognition for his leadership qualities and thereby was appointed captain of Multan Sultans in place of Shan Masood.

"We made a change in captaincy because Rizwan possesses qualities as a leader and is also Pakistan vice-captain. He has shown what he can do when he captained the national team when Babar [Azam] was injured [in New Zealand]. He has got a good domestic record and as captain [of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] won the National T20 Cup," Flower said.

"He's got the qualities to make a successful leader and although I don't know him very much but [after] doing research on Rizwan we decided to go new way forward for Multan by making him our captain and we're looking forward to him leading the side and getting us to the playoffs again by leading from the front.

On Shan, Flower remarked, "This is obviously no discredit to Shan because I really enjoyed working with him. I thought he led the side very well last year and also played well. But having said that nothing stays permanent in life, and this is a change we've made although Shan is still a very important part of the Multan group. He'll play a very big role in the upcoming tournament."

Looking back to HBL PSL V, Flower said the extended break between the league phase and the playoffs played a key part in Multan Sultans failing to make the final.