The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, mentioned that the national team is losing its power because they don’t have good backup players. This issue became clear after Pakistan lost to Bangladesh by 10 wickets in the first test match, which was a very embarrassing result.
Naqvi said on Monday, the day after Bangladesh won their first test match against Pakistan in 14 tries, that this loss was very disappointing. He explained that the problem is that the selection committee doesn’t have a group of high-quality players to choose from when they need to replace someone.
Pakistan has been trying to win a test match at home since they last won against South Africa in December 2021. The loss in the first test was their fifth at home during this time, and there were also four draws.
Naqvi had talked about making big changes after Pakistan was eliminated from the Super Eight at the T20 World Cup. They lost to their main rival, India, and the team from the United States, which was one of the tournament hosts.
“We want to solve our issues,” Naqvi mentioned, “but when we consider how to fix them, we don’t have any reliable information or a group of top players to choose from.”
The Pakistan Cricket Board plans to use artificial intelligence to help find a group of reserve players from the recently announced 50-over competition – the Champions Cup – set to take place from September 12-29.
Prominent Pakistani cricket figures such as Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Misbah-ul-haq, Shoaib Malik, and Sarfaraz Ahmed will serve as mentors for the five teams in the Champions Cup.
“This Cup will help make domestic cricket stronger, and we’ll have a group of 150 players to choose from. Then the selection committee will make the necessary changes,” Naqvi explained. He also mentioned that some people have been asking for quick changes to the test team. “But you can’t just remove someone unless you have a better player to take their place.”
Pakistan made an unexpected decision to not include a specialist spinner in the first match against Bangladesh, and instead chose four fast bowlers. This strategy didn’t work out well. Bangladesh scored 565 runs, which gave them a strong lead of 117 runs after Pakistan had declared at 448-6.
Pakistan struggled in their second innings, being all out for 146 runs, mainly due to the strong performance of Bangladesh’s spin bowlers Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz, who together took seven wickets.
“It’s disappointing to lose to Bangladesh, but the selection committee had provided the team with 17 players,” Naqvi commented. “If the coach or captain decides not to use some of them, that’s up to them. The team management might have made a mistake, but that doesn’t affect the selection process.”
