Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi believes cricket in the country needs ‘major surgery’ after the team’s disastrous 10-wicket loss against Bangladesh in the Rawalpindi Test on Sunday.
Naqvi, who spoke on the occasion of making public the five mentors of Pakistan’s One-Day tournament (Champions Cup), pressed on a dire need of backup players emerging from the domestic circuit.
“The problem is the selection committee has no pool to turn to from which to select players,” he said. “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.”
Furthermore, Naqvi called for a systemic data bank on the players featuring in the domestic circuit.
“We had a lot of players for which we didn’t have records,” Naqvi said. “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.
“These 150 players that have been selected, 80% of it has been done by AI (Artificial intelligence), and 20% using humans. Nobody can challenge that. We gave about 20% weightage to our selection committee. If we replace a player with a worse one, you’ll be the first to complain. We’ll have records and we’ll all be able to see transparently who deserves a place in the team,” he added.
Pakistan’s Naseem Shah, second right, celebrates with teammate after taking the wicket of Bangladesh’s Zakir Hasan during the third day of first cricket test match between Pakistan and Bangladesh, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, Friday, Aug. 23, 2024. AP/PTI
Pakistan’s cricket team has come under scanner on the back of their first-ever loss against Bangladesh in Test cricket.
The Shan Masood-led team also coped flake for their poor reading of the conditions and fielding four seamers on a surface that didn’t come to the aid of their quicks.
“The weather had been around in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, it rained around 8-9 days before the first day of play,” Masood said afterwards, conceding that Pakistan were wrong in their assessment of the pitch. “Firstly looking at the pitch, we expected it to do a bit more. With three pace bowlers, they were gonna be pushed to the limit. At the end of the day, we got it wrong.”
Former PCB chief Ramiz Raja was among those who lashed out on Masood and Co after the loss. “Firstly, there was a mistake in team selection. You were without a spinner,” Ramiz Raja said on his YouTube channel. “Secondly, the reputation based on which we rely on our fast bowlers is finished.”
Pakistan will play the second Test against Bangladesh starting August 30, Friday in Rawalpindi.
