Lahore, August 05: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has come under scathing criticism from former players for the national side’s recent downfall in Sri Lanka, with retired captain Zaheer Abbas asserting that the cricket bosses have failed to handle the team in a proper manner and have been taking decisions for personal benefits.
Abbas said there was mismanagement on the part of the national cricket board, and it needs a shake-up from the top to bottom.
”The World Twenty20 win had hid all the weaknesses in the team and the cricket board,” said Abbas, referring to Pakistan’s triumph in England
against Sri lanka in June. ”The top man doesn’t know much about the intricacies of cricket and is taking decisions to please his friends,” Abbas said of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt. ”From top to bottom we need changes.
”Since this board has taken over we have lost the Champions Trophy, we have been stripped of World Cup 2011 matches and we have failed to handle the team, so this is total mismanagement, which is unacceptable,” lamented Abbas.
Pakistan lost its rights to host the much-anticipated Champions Trophy, after the ICC moved out the ODI event to South Africa in February due to security reasons.
Two months later, the ICC also had to move the World Cup 2011 matches, to be held at the Asian sub-continent, out of Pakistan.
Abbas felt that the coach Intikhab Alam and captain Younis Khan don’t deserve to hold their post after the humiliation in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan lost the three-Test series 0-2 against Sri Lanka, their first-ever defeat in the island country, and are already trailing 0-3 in the ongoing ODI series.
”The coach (Intikhab Alam) must go, and the captain (Younis Khan) also lacks the qualities of a good leader,” he said.
Former chief selector Abdul Qadir demanded resignations from the board and the team.
”They should feel ashamed,” said Qadir, who resigned in June alleging the PCB’s interference in the selection affairs.
”Defeats are part and parcel of the game, but shameful defeats are unacceptable,” he was quoted as saying by ‘The News’.
Former Pakistan captain Aamer Sohail, who stepped down the PCB’s development director last month after differences with management, also had stern words for the Pakistani setup.
”No one, from the board officials to the team management, seems to have a clear plan in mind.
”Some of the decisions make no sense, like two regular openers were sent to Sri Lanka but we used makeshift openers in the series which we have lost now,” he added.
—–Agencies