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‘What exactly is going on with the PCB?’ is one question we should all ask.
Syed Muhammad Zaid
November 16, 2023
The lacklustre performance that we saw during Pakistan’s World Cup campaign has sent the ‘bleed green’ fanbase into an abyss, akin to the Green Shirts’ unceremonious exit in 2015’s World Cup.
A team reshuffle and ‘where we go from here’ promises are always a typical approach to failed tournaments, but as a fan, I am fed up with how the players take the flak but never the cricket board.
Yesterday, top-order batter Babar Azam
announced that he had stepped down as the Pakistan cricket captain in all formats. Babar didn’t mention a specific reason for his decision but it comes on the heels of the team’s disastrous run in the ICC World Cup in India.
The poor performances have been deconstructed and dissected ad nauseam over the past few weeks. There is no need for another play-by-play of how badly the Green Shirts performed in the World Cup.
But what is needed is to pin some of the blame on the PCB. While the team shoulders the responsibility for its performance in the World Cup, the PCB is not blameless and has played the biggest part in our failure in the event.
Pakistan have already announced replacements for Babar in the Test and T20 side, with Shan Masood as the captain for the red ball and Shaheen Shah Afridi to lead the side in the shortest format of the game. There are no questions regarding Shaheen’s ability to lead the T20 side having won two back-to-back PSL trophies with Lahore Qalandar. But a complete upheaval every four years cannot be the answer to Pakistan’s problem.
