PCB sources state that, one major hurdle for Babar Azam upon his return as captain was to unite the team he struggled with these inner divisions.
The early exit of Pakistan from the current 2024 ICC T20 World Cup has been blamed on internal team “groupings” and poor showing by senior players. This situation may trigger massive alterations not only in the team but also in the Pakistan Cricket Board.
It is said that Shaheen Shah Afridi was unhappy about losing captaincy and felt unsupported by Babar while Muhammad Rizwan was dissatisfied about not being considered for captaincy.
“There are 3 groups in the team, one led by Babar Azam, another led by Shaheen Shah Afridi and third led by Muhammad Rizwan; throw into this mix the comeback of seniors like Muhammad Aamir and Imad Wasim and you have a recipe for world cup disaster,” a source close to the team told PTI.
“The return of Imad and Amir added to the confusion as it was difficult for Babar to get any worthwhile performances from both of them as they had not played top-level domestic or international cricket for a long while now except in franchise-based leagues.”
“There were even instances where some players were not talking to each other and a few of them even tried to appease all group leaders in the team,” added the source.
A senior PCB official said Chairman Mohsin Naqvi knew about team problems before this World Cup because he had been briefed on them by national selector cum senior manager Wahab Riaz.
“Naqvi held two meetings with all players privately and gave them pep talks asking them to put their issues aside and focus on winning this World Cup and he would remove all misgivings within his team later on but apparently things didn’t work out.”
“I am not defending Babar but what does a captain do when your chief bowler cannot even defend 15 runs in the last over against a weak USA side and gives a boundary and six on full tosses. Or when an all-rounder brought out of retirement to help win the World Cup sits out with fitness issues,” the source added.
Naqvi has hinted that he might make changes in the national team, however sources indicate that there will also be changes within the cricket board itself.
“Obviously, chairman will clean up things in the team but already he has started performance related appraisals of senior and mid-level employees within the Board,” claimed the source.
“You will see major changes in the team and at management level in the board now,” he said.
“Naqvi is himself facing problems as he is not ruling government’s choice to head The Board. He is also now facing criticism for world cup debacle and there are calls for his head as well” told another PCB source to PTI.
