Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi on Wednesday broke his silence on the board’s resolution to launch as many as seven gamers and two coaches halfway by means of Pakistan‘s Take a look at tour of England, the place the guests had already misplaced the collection 0-2. Not solely did he defend the choice, he additionally dismissed criticism from former Pakistan cricketers, saying they themselves had achieved nothing.
After the top of the second Take a look at at Lord’s, the place Pakistan misplaced by 194 runs, the PCB took the drastic measure of changing practically half the squad and releasing Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul — their head coach and bowling coach, respectively. Pakistan despatched again seven gamers — Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad — with the latter two not having performed any of the matches, whereas Usman had picked up a five-wicket haul within the Leeds Take a look at. The PCB referred to as up Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, together with 5 different uncapped gamers.
The transfer confronted extreme scrutiny from former cricketers, together with Shahid Afridi and Ramiz Raja. However Naqvi defended the choice, saying it was essential. He additional added that efficiency alone was not the rationale behind the purge and that there have been different issues he was presently analyzing. He didn’t disclose what these points have been, however mentioned he was upset and pained by Pakistan’s decline in world cricket.
“I’ve by no means been afraid of criticism, and I by no means will likely be,” Naqvi instructed Geo Information, including that criticism from those that had not achieved something themselves made no distinction to him.
Naqvi mentioned that had a legend of Wasim Akram’s stature spoken concerning the matter, he would have taken it significantly. Nonetheless, he dismissed others’ remarks, saying they didn’t know the entire story and that their subject was with him fairly than with Pakistan cricket.
Naqvi additionally acknowledged Pakistan’s poor present in Take a look at cricket, with the workforce sitting on the backside of the WTC factors desk after managing simply two wins in eight matches. Nonetheless, he reckoned the workforce’s white-ball kind had improved throughout his tenure.
“Those that say cricket has been destroyed since I got here — take a look at what the rankings have been earlier than,” he mentioned.
