Pakistan Cricket Board president Mohsin Naqvi called for a “major surgery” for the Pakistan cricket team after their loss to India in the 2024 T20 World Cup. At the time, they were still in contention to qualify for the Super Eight stage with the help of weather and other teams like Ireland and India. But it didn’t happen. The USA vs Ireland match was called off without a ball being bowled. Having earned one point in this match, the USA finished the group stage with five points. Even if Pakistan wins against Ireland in their last match, they can only get four points at most.
“Initially it seemed like a minor surgery would be enough but after an extremely poor performance against India it is clear that a major operation is required,” Naqvi was quoted as telling several Pakistani media outlets after Babar Azam’s team failed to reach 120 against India despite being in a dominant position.
This came after Pakistan was shocked by hosts USA in their group stage match. The match went into a super over after both teams finished at 159 each. In the one-over eliminator, Mohammed Amir lost 18 runs, eight of which were extras. Pakistan could only score 12 runs in their fight back.
“Our performance has been terrible. Our biggest challenge is to improve the team’s performance. We were very disappointed to lose to USA but now we have lost to India. Now we need to look at players other than the ones we have in the team now,” he said.
Naqvi, who took over as chairman in January and later served as home minister, said the PCB had taken all measures to facilitate the players.
But are the players solely to blame? Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif doesn’t think so. He believes the PCB is part of the problem.
“250 million Pakistanis have a right to know which selectors voted for which players. PCB should make public the minutes of the selection committee’s last meeting,” Latif said, retweeting a tweet by a Pakistani journalist from X.
“Before putting the blame on the players the PCB and its governing bodies need to be sacked first! They are the ones responsible for selecting the players & management for this tour and getting them physically & mentally in shape for the T20 World Cup! They need to be fired! But will they really do that?” said another tweet, reposted by Latif.
Throughout the tournament, the team was plagued by allegations of internal discord and that some players had been selected on the basis of favouritism rather than ability.
The PCB sacked T20I captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and re-appointed Babar Azam just months before the T20 World Cup. Reports of discord over the switch also adversely affected Pakistan’s preparations for the World Cup, as they lost to Ireland, lost 2-0 to England and drew 2-2 with an understrength New Zealand.
