Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

Confusion reigns supreme in Pakistan after ODI loss to England

Image
Press Trust of India Karachi
Last Updated : Sep 03 2016 | 9:42 PM IST
Confusion reigned supreme in Pakistan cricket once again after the drubbing the national team received at the hands of England in the ongoing one-day series that ends tomorrow.
The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Shaharyar Khan apparently is also confused over whether to change the captain of the national one-day team ahead of the series against the West Indies in the UAE or not.
In an interview to the daily "Jang" newspaper, Khan who is in London these days on a private visit, confirmed that the board was contemplating appointing a new captain in place of Azhar Ali before the West Indies series.
"Yes we are thinking about it and we will sit down and discuss it before the team is announced for the West Indies series," Khan said.
But two days later he was quoted on a cricket website as saying that the PCB would give Azhar Ali more time to prove himself as a worthy captain.
To further confuse matters, the media has reported that the PCB officials in London have apparently conveyed to Azhar that it would be best for him to step down himself as he was a senior player and they didn't want to announce they had removed him.
The senior batsman was a surprise choice as the Pakistan ODI captain after Misbah-ul-Haq retired from the format following last year's World Cup.

More From This Section

The board surprised everyone by appointing Azhar although he had not been considered for ODI cricket since mid-October by the national selectors.
Pakistan's former captain and great, Wasim Akram, however, has pleaded for time to be given to the players to settle down.
"They are young players and things will not change overnight, we have to be patient now," he said on Geo channel.
Interestingly, just a few days earlier Wasim had said that the board should appoint wicketkeeper, Sarfaraz Ahmed as the ODI captain as well as Azhar had failed to inspire his players in this format.
Former players also appear to be divided over the decisions that the PCB should take after the England tour to revive the ODI and T20 squads.
But Pakistan's former allrounder and now Director of the national academy, Mudassar Nazar said that Pakistan was in dire straits in limited overs cricket.
"I have changed my mind after the recent results and I think we are in dire straits and we need to change the way we approach one-day cricket. I have already made changes to the NCA program because we need to have specialist players for ODI and T20 cricket," Nazar told PTI.
Official sources in the PCB told

Also Read

First Published: Sep 03 2016 | 9:42 PM IST

Next Story