File photo of Pakistan cricket team.© AFP
Legendary pacer Wasim Akram has lashed out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for its conduct and also blamed it for the poor performance of the senior men’s national cricket team. Highlighting how PCB saw four chairmen in around one-year period, Akram stated that the team could never be consistent with its performance in such a scenario. The pace great added that such things see people make fun of Pakistan cricket in the world. He also expressed happiness with the fact that he is not in touch with the board.
“They replaced Shaheen Afridi from captaincy and then changed three chairmen in one year. First they removed Ramiz (Raja). They didn’t even let him get into office. Then Najam Sethi was brought in. Zaka Ashraf came after three months. After four to five months, Mohsin Naqvi was brought in as new PCB chairman. How can the team be consistent then?” Akram told Sportskeeda.
After Pakistan’s early exit from the 2023 ODI World Cup, Babar Azam was replaced with Shaheen Afridi as Pakistan captain in T20I cricket. Under Shaheen, Pakistan lost one T20I series against New Zealand with a 4-1 margin and he was replaced with Babar in the role. Akram opined that PCB should have given the left-arm pacer at least one year in the role
“They replaced Babar with Shaheen as Pakistan captain. The latter lost one series and the chairman got changed during that phase. The newcomer asked to change the captain and got it done. This is just not on. People make fun of us in world cricket. They don’t get it. If you have made (Shaheen) Afridi the captain, give him a year,” said the Pakistan great.
“They don’t ask us. It’s good that we are away from Pakistan cricket. It is a blessing in disguise because it is just criticism, politics,” he added.
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