The defeat in the Asia Cup has created much controversy on the Pakistan Cricket Board and resulted in the resignation of Mohammad Hafeez.
Mohammad Hafeez steps down from PCB technical committee
Pakistan cricket team has been knocked out from the Asia Cup with their defeat in the Super Fours against Sri Lanka. On this occasion, a meeting was held on Thursday regarding the team’s underperformance in the Asia Cup with the likes of PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, Captain Babar Azam, head coach Grant Bradburn, Salman Nasser, Usman Wahla, and former skipper Misbah ul Haq.
Pakistan’s former captain Mohammad Hafeez resigned from the PCB’s technical committee after the review meeting. Hafeez’s departure has ignited further debates over the preparation for the upcoming World Cup.
The chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq was not seen in the meeting and Hafeez’s resignation added fuel to the fire.
“I decided to leave the Pakistan Cricket Technical Committee. I served as an honorary member. I would like to thank Zaka Ashraf SB for giving me this opportunity. I’m always available whenever Zaka Ashraf SB needs my honest suggestions for Pakistan cricket. My best wishes for Pakistan cricket as always. Pakistan Zindabad,” wrote Hafeez.
The fast bowler Zaman Khan and Spinner Abrar Ahmed will be replacing the injured Naseem Shah and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf. According to PTI, Inzamam decided to skip the meeting as he thought it was not the right time to do such an exercise.
“Inzamam is a very strong-headed person and he didn’t agree with the move by Chairman Zaka Ashraf to call such a review meeting and make Babar and Bradburn face uncomfortable questions by Misbah, Hafeez, and other board officials,” the source said.
“Inzamam having been a former captain and top cricketer himself, made it clear he was not happy with the review process as this was the time to encourage and boost the team instead of putting them through an inquisition and showing distrust in their abilities.”
“The philosophy behind this review was to create an atmosphere of open discussion and develop consensus,” said Zaka Ashraf. “The idea is to have everyone on board and debate about performances, identifying the problems and their solutions.”
“In a robust analysis, every aspect of recent team performance, player fitness, and future plans came into discussion with a view to bringing improvement to the side,” the release said. “There was an agreement on making a better approach and strategy on players’ workload. The importance of strengthening the bench was also emphasized,” it added.
Pakistan will be playing its Warmup games against New Zealand on September 29 and Australia on October 3 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
