Pakistan have taken their first tough steps since their disastrous T20 World Cup defeat, removing Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq from the selection committee.

According to a report by ESPN Cricinfo, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has removed former pacer Wahab Riaz and former all-rounder Abdul Razzaq from the selection committee following the team’s elimination in the group stages of the T20 World Cup in the United States and West Indies. The aftermath of Pakistan’s dismal performance in the T20 World Cup, which saw them eliminated in the group stage after losses to the United States and India, was predictable and the first blow fell on the selection committee.

Barely four months after restructuring the selection committee, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi has decided to remove two prominent members of the selection committee, taking it to five from the initial seven. The remaining five selectors are head coach and captain of the respective formats Mohammed Yousaf, Asad Shafiq and data analyst Bilal Afzal. The PCB is unlikely to replace Riaz and Razzaq in the committee.

The report said that Razzaq was also removed from his duties as selection committee member for the women’s team. Riaz’s fall was more swift. Considered a close aide to the PCB chief, Riaz served in Naqvi’s cabinet as caretaker sports minister during Naqvi’s appointment as caretaker chief minister of Punjab province and followed him to the PCB, where he was initially appointed chairman of the selection committee.

His position always attracted a lot of attention. The former pacer faced a lot of criticism after he appointed former captain Salman Butt as one of his advisors. His differences with Pakistan’s ace pacer Haris Rauf were public. Rauf was terminated from his central contract and was blamed by Riaz for reluctantly taking the Test team on their tour to Australia. Around six weeks later, his contract was reinstated following Naqvi’s intervention, but Naqvi described it as a “misunderstanding” and a “wrong decision on the part of the selectors”.

Riaz soon lost his position as chief selector as the restructured committee gave equal weightage to all seven members, but the public still saw him as the de facto head, much to the ex-cricketer’s annoyance, as he was the one to take the brunt whenever the team went wrong.

Wahab Riaz was also touring Pakistan to the T20 World Cup as senior team manager but is likely to be stripped of this role as well.

Reports suggest that the PCB will bring back the old model of a five-member selection committee with a chief selector. The men’s team has had six chief selectors in the last four years – Wahab, Haroon Rashid, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammed Wasim and Misbah-ul-Haq – all in the role for short stints.