T20 World Cup: Pakistan eliminated in group stage.©AFP
According to a report in the newspaper Jang, some Pakistani players were paid as little as $2,500 each to attend a networking event in Dallas on the sidelines of the T20 World Cup 2024. It was also reported that another event, “An Evening with the Stars,” was cancelled due to a difference in payment between captain Babar Azam and other players. All these revelations will be analysed in the post-mortem of the team, which was eliminated in the league stage after losing to tournament debutants USA and arch rivals India.
The board will have four chairmen from December 2022 onwards, but no senior management-level officers have been transferred or fired.
“If today’s players are an undisciplined and careless bunch, it is now clear that the blame lies with some senior managers who have favoured the players in many ways, including by awarding them central contracts last year,” the source added.
Adding to the drama is speculation that a feud between Babar and spearhead pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi over the captaincy has divided the team.
Pakistan’s dismal performance at the T20 World Cup in the United States is likely to shake up the country’s cricket board and lead to the creation of a code of conduct for players who have come under criticism for bringing their families to the tournament and making paid promotional appearances during it.
Reliable sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have confirmed that chairman Mohsin Naqvi is furious over the performance of some senior officials and has held them responsible for the rampant indiscipline within the team for failing to break through in the league.
“Going forward, the PCB will be left without any senior management level officials and will be forced to enforce stricter policies on players,” the source said.
He said a policy decision to ban players from accompanying their families to ICC and other major events would also be announced soon as part of the PCB’s clean-up drive.
“The fact that many players not only brought their wives and children to the World Cup but also had their parents, siblings and others staying in the team hotel frustrated the chairman,” the source said.
He said an investigation into who gave permission for players to take their entire families on the tour revealed that senior members of the board were behind the decision.
“Some of the officials were not professionals but were fans of the players and allowed many concessions to the players which ultimately led to the disaster of the World Cup,” the source said.
He was also unhappy with the progress of work on the ICC Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in Pakistan early next year, and said the PCB chief has now asked all senior management-level officials to submit performance appraisal reports.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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