Tag: Chief Selector

  • PCB appoints Shahid Afridi as chief selector for New Zealand series

    PCB appoints Shahid Afridi as chief selector for New Zealand series

    Former captain Shahid Afridi will head the new interim selection committee for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the latest change since the team was thrashed by England.

    Ramiz Raja was removed as head of the PCB on Thursday, and a 14-member management committee took over.

    Before selecting Afridi, the main committee, led by the former chairman Najam Sethi, also sacked chief selector Mohammad Wasim.

    According to the PCB, former players Abdul Razzaq and Rao Iftikhar were also nominated selectors. The changes follow Pakistan’s first-ever 3-0 home whitewash by England this month.

    Announcing Afridi’s appointment, PCB Management Committee chief Najam Sethi tweeted: “I welcome the interim Men’s National Selection Committee and have no doubts that, despite limited time, they will make brave and bold decisions that will help us produce a strong and competitive side in the series against New Zealand.”

    “I feel honoured to have been assigned this responsibility,” said Afridi, who retired from international cricket in 2017. “We need to get back to our winning ways and I have no doubts that through meritocratic and strategic selection decisions, we will help the national side to perform.”

    In a career marked by his hard-hitting batting, Afridi represented Pakistan in 27 Tests, 398 one-day matches, and 99 Twenty20 matches.

    A two-match Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand is underway, with the first game taking place in Karachi on Monday.

  • Mohammad Wasim denies rumours of rift with Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam

    Mohammad Wasim denies rumours of rift with Misbah-ul-Haq, Babar Azam

    Chief selector Mohammad Wasim has rejected claims of a rift with head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and captain Babar Azam. Over the past couple of days, different media reports suggested that both coach and the captain were unhappy with the team selection for the upcoming tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe.

    Wasim, while talking to a local media outlet, said that he has heard about the rumours of a rift between the trio but there are no legitimate grounds for these speculations.

    “I have been hearing about the same rumours [of rift] but I don’t believe there is any truth in this,” said Wasim. “We have a standard procedure which was followed during the selection of the teams for the South Africa home series and it was similarly followed this time around as well.”

    “The selection committee had three meetings with the captain and the coach whereas there were separate meetings of the selectors as well. So I don’t really know where are these rumours coming from.”

    The Men in Green are scheduled to face South Africa in three ODIs and four T20Is after which they will travel to Zimbabwe.

    Meanwhile, Pakistan batting great Inzamam-ul-Haq is also not happy with how things have panned out after the announcement of the squad for the upcoming tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe by Chief Selector Wasim.

    While speaking on his official YouTube channel, Inzamam revealed that skipper Azam is unhappy after his suggestions were ignored while selecting the team.