Nasser Hussain Highlights Major Flaw In PCB That Led To Omission Of Babar, Shaheen, Naseem From Test Squad (Source: AP/)
After a hammering defeat in the first Test against England, the Pakistan Cricket Board made a bold move and dropped senior players Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah from the squad for the following two Tests, even though the PCB said that players were rested to give them time to work on fitness, composure, and confidence. The move was predicted given the senior players' underwhelming performances in recent times, however, it has left former England cricket Nasser Hussain unimpressed.
Reflecting on the senior players' omission from the squad, Hussain said the issue is not in the players but in how Pakistan Cricket is run.
"The issues is not Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi or Naseem Shah. The issue is behind the scenes in the way Pakistan cricket runs. In the paper, I saw there were 26 different selectors; in another it said 27. Nobody can keep count. How many have England had? Two or three, maybe. But if you keep changing selectors, coaches, captains - constantly shuffling leadership - it's impossible to plan ahead," said Hussain.
"No successful business or sports team works that way. When you operate with short-term thinking, you show up unprepared, and by the time you lose the first Test, you're already scrambling for solutions," he added.
Nasser Hussain acknowledged that PCB have limited financial resources but pointed out they often shoot themselves in the foot.
"Their cricket and some of it, you give them a bit of leeway because of the way the finances of the world game have gone with the big three, and they're picking up the scraps like other nations are. So I really feel for Pakistan cricket and we mustn't be too harsh on them, but at times, they shoot themselves in the foot," said Hussain.
Pakistan have been poor across formats in the last few years. After making an early exit in the most recent ODI and T20I World Cups, they suffered a 2-0 defeat to Bangladesh, their first series defeat to the Tigers in cricket history. In fact, Pakistan are on a six-match losing streak in Test cricket.
Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.
