PCB officials upset over Miandad comments

Pak authorities said the former captain's remarks had done great damage to Board's image.

Javed Miandad's verbal attack on PCB for sacking team manager Zaheer Abbas has prompted a strong response from cricket authorities who said the former Pakistan captain's comments had done great damage to the image of the Board.

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Miandad had said that the Board, made up of people who had no contribution to cricket, had humiliated Zaheer Abbas and made him a scapegoat for the Oval Test controversy, which resulted in Pakistan forfeiting the game after being accused of ball tampering.

Top PCB officials were very upset with Miandad's comments and felt they had damaged their image coming at a time when Pakistan played poorly in England and with the Board trying to sort out issues with the International Cricket Council (ICC).

"We have failed to understand why Miandad has taken the removal of Zaheer so strongly when everybody agrees that the former great is a thorough gentleman and was not strong enough to manage the team," a PCB official said.

He pointed out that the general concensus was that Zaheer could have acted more strongly to avoid the Oval Test fiasco.

The appointment of Talat Ali was basically to introduce more discipline in the team and have a manager who can wield authority and have more say in team and selection matters, he said.