Bhathiya Barukanda
Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq have been reportedly sacked from PCB’s (Pakistan Cricket Board) selection committee in the aftermath of Pakistan’s embarrassing exit from the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Razzaq, 44, was recently appointed as a member of both the men’s and the women’s selection committees but will no longer serve the roles.
While the Pakistan Cricket Board has not made any official announcement yet, it will be announced later this week, as per a report by ESPNcricinfo.
Wahab’s exit doesn’t come across as a surprise as the former left-arm pacer was earlier stripped of his chief selector’s title after the board had decided to dissolve the position.
Notably, Wahab was a part of Mohsin Naqvi’s cabinet as caretaker sports minister when the latter was named the caretaker chief minister of Punjab. It is believed that Wahab and Naqvi had cordial relations and hence the former was able to consolidate his position in the selection committee despite the dissolution of the “chief selector” post.
Naqvi, who is currently serving as the incumbent chief selector of the PCB is believed to have made the bold call after the conclusion of a meeting involving Pakistan men’s white-ball head coach, Gary Kirsten, red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie and the assistant coach Azhar Mahmood in Lahore on Tuesday, July 9.
Other than taking a call on Wahab and Razzaq’s future, the meeting witnessed the discussion on devising a strategy to improve the overall standards in the batting, bowling and fielding departments.
The meeting also saw the participants unanimously agreeing upon raising the fitness standard.
Significantly, the ouster of Razzaq and Wahab has reduced the size of the men’s selection committee to five members comprising Mohammad Yousaf, Asad Shafiq, Bilal Afzal, a data analyst, the captain and the head coach.
Pakistan’s next international assignment is a two-match Test series at home against Bangladesh in August.
Sources: indiantvnews.com
