As a result of their group stage exit from the recently concluded Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, in the West Indies and the United States of America, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) selection committee has sacked both their selectors Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riza from the national side.
Razzaq was appointed as the selector for both the men’s and women’s teams of Pakistan a few weeks ago, but will no longer be in the position of making team selector of the women’s side too. The reports have claimed that the dismissal of both these selectors would be announced at the end of this week.
ESPNcricinfo reported last month, that Wahab Riaz’s position as the chief selector earlier this year was under the scanner, while he was appointed as one of the seven selectors to a committee that had no chief at all. Once Pakistan had a very poor campaign, losing both to India and the USA, the seat was about to get snatched.
The former left-arm fast bowler however has shown his frustrations towards the public perception, because it made him tolerate any criticism of the decisions that the whole selection committee was making.
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The ‘Men in Green’ had a very tough time in preparation for the ninth edition of the T20 World Cup 2024, where they lost the home T20I series by 2-0 against the England side. They also lost the first game of the three-match T20I series against Ireland, before making a comeback.
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Their captain Babar Azam is already under pressure along with the experienced wicket-keeper of the side, Mohammad Rizwan, as they didn’t have a great time against the American side. Babar wasn’t getting the middle of his bat, as the pressure of dots kept on increasing on the whole team.
Once he got out, the other just kept on following him in the dressing room, as they lost the game in the super-over. The mentality of the players in playing the shortest format of the game is quite poor and average.
The way at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium, against India, they failed to chase down a low total of 120 runs, despite being at a position where they needed 48 runs at run-a-ball with eight wickets in hand, and even after having their opener Rizwan in the middle till the 15th over, shows the position of the side in this format.
Wahab Riaz’s departure is a fall from grace for a man who was so close to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi. He served as the caretaker sports minister in his cabinet while the former was the caretaker chief minister of Punjab.
The decision means that the board has performed another U-turn on the procedure in which the players are picked from the national side. The seven-member committee was declared just around four months ago, where the former pacer of the country was demoted from the chief selector with each of those seven members carrying the same number of votes.
The Pakistan board has now seen six chief selectors over the last four years, which include Wahab himself, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim, Misbah-Ul-Haq, Haroon Rashid and Shahid Afridi- all serving a brief stint.
The remaining five selection committee members are the head coach of the side and the captain of the respective formats, Mohammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, and the data analyst of the side Bilal Afzal. Also, it’s been known that the future of Babar Azam as the captain of Pakistan’s T20I team would be taken later in the month.
Pakistan will face Bangladesh in a two-match Test series, which will start on August 21, at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.