Pakistan squad needs major surgery: Mohsin Naqvi baffled with lack of bench strength

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Mohsin Naqvi is extremely upset following Pakistan’s loss to Bangladesh in the Test match at Rawalpindi. Naqvi believes that there isn’t an adequate pool of players to grow from the domestic system. Naqvi had previously claimed that Pakistan squad needed a major surgery after the Men in Green were knocked out in the ICC T20 World Cup.

“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 had said previously.

As the Pakistan Cricket Team continues to struggle across multiple formats of the game, there is a growing concern in board about records of domestic players not being present for the selection committee to analyse. The other day, Naqvi went on to announce 5 mentors for the Champions Cup.

“We had a lot of players for which we didn’t have records. 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,” Naqvi added.

Player Selection through AI?

The PCB chief further claimed that the majority of the 150 players in the domestic Cup have been selected using AI (Artificial Intelligence). As the struggle continues, PCB is hopeful that the domestic cricket won’t take a hit now. Naqvi further added that there will be accountability and transparency on the selection of the players based on their performance.

“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.”

“The Champions Cup will end in September, and then there will be records for everyone Anyone who isn’t performing will be immediately replaced. It shouldn’t come down to anyone’s individual opinions and wishes,” he concluded.