After the world cup debacle, Pakistan cricket team – one of the favourites to lift the world cup in India, lost confidence when supporters and former cricketers openly criticised the performance of team and captain Babar Azam. The off field drama of Inzamam ul Haq (then chief selector of national cricket team) resigning from the post became the first casualty of possible overhaul by PCB led by Zaka Ashraf.
The meetings of PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf with former cricketers, like Shahid Afridi, and active cricketers like Sarfaraz Ahmed opened the Pandora box of removing Babar Azam from his post at least in the shorter format of the game. It is believed that former fast bowler Aquib Javid and all-rounder Shahid Afridi lobbied for Shaheen Shah Afridi to lead the team in T20is, Shaheen coincidentally is son-in-law of Shahid Afridi. Former South African fast bowler and bowling coach Morne Morkel also resigned immediately after the world cup.
There have been numerous flaws in PCB in recent times, with Najam Sethi taking over as chief and without completing his term was sacked and Zaka Ashraf was appointed to lead PCB. It is very much possible that off field drama has affected the on field performance of the team in the recently concluded world cup. The personal WhatsApp chat leak of former captain Babar Azam on national television channel says about the state of affairs of PCB.
After the much awaited meeting of Babar Azam and Zaka Ashraf, star batsman through X formerly twitter announced to resign from captaincy in all formats of game. After a couple of hours PCB announced Shan Masoood (averaging 28.52 in tests and 18 in ODIs) as captain of the test team while as injury prone fast bowler Shaheen Afridi having a mediocre world cup was appointed to lead the team in T20s.
The announcement of both captains led to speculations that both the leaders were already chosen by board but did not have the authority to sack any captain. The board pressured Babar Azam (having mediocre world cup still averaging above 45 in 9 games) to resign from the post.
Wahab Riaz who recently retired from international cricket was appointed chief selector and Mohammad Hafeez as director and coach of PCT. Fast bowler Haris Rouf who was not at his best in the entire world cup made himself unavailable for Australia tour due to workload management was lashed out by the chief selector during a press conference causing another controversy. The fans lashed out at the chief selector calling players’ choice to be available or unavailable due to mental and workload issues for any tour and series.
The tough time on PCB is not going away any time soon as wicket keeper batter Azam Khan was fined 50% of match fees for breaching clothing and equipment regulations (displaying unapproved logo/political messaging) during the National T20 tournament in Karachi.
Azam displayed Palestine’s flag on his bat during the National T20 game between Karachi Whites and Lahore Blues. The pressure from fans Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to lift the penalty imposed on batter Azam Khan.
National wicketkeeper batter Rizwan tweeted in support of Palestine after his knock of 131 (not out) in the highest run chase ever in Cricket World Cup history.
It is believed that PCB had asked the wicketkeeper-batter to delete his social media, but later PCB denied any such involvement.