Rilee Rossouw replaces Sarfaraz Ahmed as captain of Quetta Gladiators ahead of PSL 9

Rilee Rossouw has replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed as the captain of Quetta Gladiators ahead of the ninth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Rossouw will be assisted by Saud Shakeel who has been appointed as the vice-captain of the side.

Rossouw’s appointment brings an end to Sarfaraz’s eight-year-long tenure as captain of Gladiators which saw him win the coveted trophy once during the 2019 season.

As per reports, there was deliberation among the members of Quetta Gladiators’ team management and it was eventually decided that Rossouw was the ideal candidate for captaincy compared to Shakeel.

Though the South African doesn’t have any experience leading a T20 side, his record in PSL is the best for an overseas batter in the history of the tournament.

Rossouw has amassed 1867 runs in the history of the PSL at an impressive strike rate of 146.54. He averages 34.57 in the tournament and has racked up two hundred and 10 half-centuries.

Handing captaincy to Rossouw is among a host of changes made by Gladiators in the lead-up to the 2024 season. They have appointed Shane Watson as their head coach after moving Moin Khan to a directorial position and also roped in Shaun Tait as fast-bowling coach.

It seems that Gladiators had made up their mind regarding a change in captaincy before the official announcement came to the fore.

The owner of Gladiators Nadeem Omar had expressed his concern over Sarfaraz’s poor run of form as skipper and wanted a smooth change of baton in terms of leadership.

“Sarfaraz has been off the boil over the last couple of years. There are a lot of reasons for that – the way he was unceremoniously ousted by the PCB didn’t help, especially when he had a few more years. We won’t dump him unceremoniously. We haven’t decided yet, but we’ll give him full honours. Sarfaraz told me he would be happy to step aside if Quetta wants to make a change. We have a call with Shane Watson in a couple of days, and then we’ll decide,” Nadeem said on the Relukattay podcast.