Pakistan’s PCB dismisses coaches and drops seven players from squad
After the national team’s two defeats in the Test series against England, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dismissed the head coach and the fast-bowling coach, and also dropped seven players from the squad. Five newcomers were announced as replacements, while two cricketers returned to the team.
A Dawn column also says that one of the opening players is to undergo a disciplinary investigation over suspicions of possibly feigning an injury. The column does not name the dismissed coaches, dropped players or their replacements.
Defeats in England
Pakistan lost the first two matches of the three-Test series — at Headingley and Lord’s. The third and final Test was due to begin on September 9 in Birmingham.
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Column author Saad Shafqat described the board’s personnel decisions as an overreaction to the team’s failures. In his view, the outrage of Pakistani fans this time is directed primarily at the PCB leadership rather than the players.
Assessment of PCB management
Shafqat links the problems of Pakistani cricket to the quality of management and the system’s ability to identify, develop and promote the strongest athletes. He suggested that the key decision may have been made by PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi.
The author also noted that high-performance director Aqib Javed publicly defended the board’s actions, although, in Shafqat’s view, he could have advocated for a more measured approach. The column mentions previous difficult periods for Pakistani cricket: the defeat by Australia in Sharjah in 2002 after scores of 59 and 53, the attack on the Sri Lanka team near Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore in 2009, and the scandal involving manipulation of individual passages of play in 2010.
