Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohsin Naqvi believes that through it, they can perform the much-needed ‘surgery’ to get rid of all troubles faced by the men’s team. This was stated by Naqvi who further said that there’s little talent available with their selection committee at this moment in time.
The recent performances of Pakistan in all formats have raised an alarm. They reached new lows on Sunday (August 25) when Bangladesh handed them a humiliating 10-wicket defeat during the first Test of two held in Rawalpindi.
The 45-year-old had mentioned needing surgery before when talking about the T20 World Cup 2024; he also pointed out that selectors are not to blame for anything. He hopes Champions Cup will provide selectors with a larger range of candidates for replacements. He conveyed his message through an excerpt from an article on ESPN Cricinfo:
“The problem is the selection committee has no pool to turn to from which to select players. I spoke of surgery because we need to fix our problems.”
”But when we look at how to resolve them, we don’t have any solid data or player pool which we can draw from. The whole system was a mess. The Champions Cup will produce great talent, and we’ll have records for the games that happen. For surgery, you need all the tools to perform it.”
Naqvi explained that immediate reactions, as proposed by fans and former cricketers, are not feasible. He stated:
“This Cup will make domestic cricket strong, we’ll have a pool of 150 players, and then the surgery we need to be done, the selection committee will do. People said ‘do it all today, slit the throats of four-five players, and get rid of them’. You can’t dump someone unless you have a better one to replace them.”
After losing to Bangladesh, Pakistan’s players’ capabilities and conditioning have been widely questioned. The top order batsmen of the hosts left much to be desired in both innings whereas the bowlers had a tough time during the first innings that lasted for 167.3 overs.
“The selection committee had provided the team with 17 players”– Mohsin Naqvi
Naqvi believes the defeat to Bangladesh was unrelated to the selection committee, adding:
“Losing to Bangladesh is sad but the selection committee had given the team 17 players. If the coach or captain aren’t playing some of them, that’s their decision. The team management may have made a mistake, but that has nothing to do with the selection committee.”
Shan Masood and his team will face intense pressure before the second Test against Bangladesh, starting on August 30 in Rawalpindi.
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