Speaking during the opening of the provisional youth conference organized by the Singh government, Muhammad Bakhsh Mahar, the provisional sports minister, has sparked a new controversy over the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ahead of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025, scheduled to begin on February 19.
He threatened to establish a separate cricket board for Singh. Mahar voiced his disappointment with the way the Singh cricketer players been treated during the start of the provisional youth conference hosted by their government.
He reckoned that they were not receiving the credit and the opportunities that they deserved on the national squad. He emphasized that cricket is a sport with long roots in Sindh and is not just for the Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
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Mahar highlighted many Sindh players who, despite having the potential and merit to make it to the national side, were instead being left behind with no chance of representing the country. He also mentioned that Sindh’s cricketers found themselves sidelined quite regularly. The province vowed to make its voice heard by forming its cricketing board if the situation doesn’t improve from this point.
Sindh government threats to build a new cricket team after Pakistan ignore a few players
Recently, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced their squad for the upcoming Champions Trophy 2025 and the tri-nation series involving New Zealand and South Africa. They recalled their veteran left-handed opening batter, Fakhar Zaman, who didn’t feature in the international series against Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. His last game came at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata during the 2023 ODI World Cup.
They dropped Abdullah Shafique after he couldn’t open his account at all during the three-match 50-over series against South Africa. There are still concerns over Zaman’s opening partner. Either it would be Babar Azam or Saud Shakeel.
Pakistan’s opening issues arose after their youngster, Saim Ayub, got injured during the second Test of the two-match series against the Proteas at the Newlands in Cape Town and failed to recover in time. Some of the players were also shifted.
The selectors called back Faheem Ashraf, whose last 50-over international game for the Green Brigade was back in 2023 during the Asia Cup against India, while Khusdil Shah returned after two years along with Shakeel. Sufyan Muqeem was thought to be one of the leading spinners for Pakistan in the squad, but they went with Abrar Ahmed, who will now have a huge role to play.
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Mohammad Rizwan will lead the side, with Salman Ali Agha being appointed the vice-captain. They won their last three successive ODI series in Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. The pacer bowling line-up consists of three veterans, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Haris Rauf.
They will face the Kiwis and the Proteas in the tri-series in preparation for the event. The campaign will start against the Blackcaps on February 19 in Karachi before they move to the Dubai International Stadium in the United Arab Emirates to take on India. Their last group-stage encounter will be against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi.