PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi has found a rather unusual way to defend Pakistan cricket amid growing criticism. He pointed to India’s shock defeat to Ireland and South Africa’s loss to Namibia as examples of even top teams suffering unexpected setbacks.
Their recent performances on the England tour, where they suffered a heavy defeat without putting up much fight, only highlighted the concerns. The PCB responded with drastic measures, sending seven Pakistan players home midway through the tour. Members of the coaching staff were also shown the door, including former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul, in a major shake-up.
While acknowledging that Pakistan cricket is going through a difficult phase, Naqvi defended the team against the criticism following their recent setbacks. He pointed to South Africa’s loss to Namibia and India’s shock defeat to Ireland as examples of top teams also suffering unexpected results.
"Let me ask you one thing: South Africa lost to Namibia, and India lost to Ireland. Has cricket ended there as well? Yes, one thing is important: whoever we need here, we will definitely bring in. If someone is not clicking or not performing, then what can we do? Every match and every series is important for us," Naqvi said in a video which is going viral on social media.
Naqvi also addressed the situation surrounding Salman Agha, who has struggled for form in recent outings despite being regarded as one of Pakistan’s key players.
"Agha is such a brilliant player, and yet he is not clicking at the moment for certain reasons. We are not telling him, ‘We asked you to go and rest’; we spoke to him and did everything. So, the objective is not to remove someone from the team. The objective is that if a player is not clicking, then we should make a change," he added.
“Look at what the rankings were before”
Meanwhile, Naqvi also pushed back against criticism of his tenure, insisting that Pakistan’s recent Test setbacks should not overshadow the progress made in the white-ball formats. He argued that the team’s ODI and T20I rankings have improved since the current coaching set-up was brought in, while acknowledging that the two Test defeats were disappointing.
"Yes, absolutely, what happened in the Test match cannot be termed wrong. We have lost these two matches, but I believe that, God willing, we will make progress in the coming days, just as we did in ODIs and T20Is. I have never been afraid of criticism, and I never will be. Those who say cricket has been destroyed since I came - look at what the rankings were before we brought our coaching team. We were eighth in ODIs and now we're fifth, in T20Is we jumped to sixth position from ninth, " Naqvi said.