Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on July 12 announced a revamped selection committee ahead of the two -Test series against Bangladesh. The overhaul was done after Pakistan failed to advance to the Super 8 Stage of recently-concluded T20 World Cup 2024.
Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Yousuf have been retained. Both the captains of red-ball (Shan Masood) and while-ball teams (Babar Azam) along with head coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie have been incorporated in the new selection committee building a fusion of young and experienced. All these members will have full voting rights signifying a tectonic shift in PCB’s approach.
Non-voting members
Along with the core committee that has voting powers, the PCB has also included non-voting members. Azhar Mahmood (assistant coach), Bilal Afzal (Advisor to Chairman), Hasan Cheema (Manager of Analytics and Team Strategy), Nadeem Khan (Director of High Performance) and Usman Wahla (Director of International Cricket) are part of the committee along with the core members. The non-voting members will provide data analysis and insights for the team.
Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razaq sacked
Earlier, Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq were sacked as selectors. Razzaq who was appointed to the selection committee for both the men’s and women’s side just weeks ago has been sacked from the national side. Riaz and Razzaq became the first victims of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup debacle. Riaz who was seen as the man leading the selection committee in T20 WC 2024 taking key decisions expressed his frustration on his ‘X’ account. He wrote “There is a lot I can say but I don’t want to be part of the blame game”.
The new selection committee’s first assignment will be selecting the squad for the two-Test series against Bangladesh, which is a part of the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2025 cycle. The selectors will also have to take a tough call on the white-ball captaincy as Pakistan are the host for ICC Champions Trophy 2025.
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Babar’s future hanging by a thread
Babar who led Pakistan in the recently-concluded T20 World Cup 2024 in the US and West Indies, is speculated to be sacked as a captain by the selection committee. PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi’s move of removing Shaheen Afridi from captaincy and reinstating Babar for the World Cup 2024 failed miserably.
The Men in Green will play nine Tests in the current WTC cycle. These Tests include a home series against Bangladesh and England in August and October, respectively. They will also play away matches in South Africa in December/January followed by two Tests at home against West Indies in January 2025.
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