Pakistan’s cricket team has been struggling for a while. Their poor performance in the ODI and T20 World Cups caused a lot of anger, leading to many changes in leadership and management. Things got even worse when the Test team, led by Shaan Masood, lost to Bangladesh 2-0 at home and then lost to England in Multan.
To try and fix the team’s bad performance, the Pakistan Cricket Board appointed a new group of selectors, reducing the selection committee from seven members to five. The committee, led by former fast bowler Aaqib Javed, included Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Hassan Cheema. The captain and head coach were also removed from having a say in the selection process.
Recently, Javed had a chance to meet the current head coach of the Indian cricket team, Gautam Gambhir. In a podcast, Javed talked about their meeting and shared that Gambhir, who used to be a top player for India, also expressed worries about Pakistan’s cricket struggles.
Javed said, “We met the Indian players during our series against Sri Lanka. Gautam Gambhir asked me, ‘Aaqib bhai, what’s happening to Pakistan cricket? There’s so much talent, we can see it, but what have they done?’ (Gambhir wondered why Pakistan cricket is struggling despite having so much talent and resources.)”
The ex-fast bowler, who played in 22 Test matches and 163 One Day Internationals, mentioned that Pakistan’s decline has made India-Pakistan games less exciting.
“He (Gambhir) feels bad about it too, because there are only a few top teams, and Pakistan-India matches are the most thrilling. So, if your team (Pakistan) drops like that, one of the biggest matches in the sport loses its magic. People at the ICC find it funny,” he ended.
Meanwhile, Pakistan is trying to tie the 3-match Test series against England at home. The hosts gave England a tough target of 297 runs before Sajid got rid of Ben Duckett (zero) and spinner Noman Ali dismissed Zak Crawley (three), leaving England at 36-2 after an exciting third day.
Ollie Pope and Joe Root were not out on 21 and 12 respectively, with 261 runs still needed to win and two days remaining.
![ENG vs WI [WATCH]: Ben Stokes shakes his head in frustration after Zak Crawley’s unfortunate run out in the 2nd Test](https://i1.wp.com/crickettimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ben-Stokes-gets-frustrated-at-Zak-Crawle-run-out-in-second-Test.webp?w=380&resize=380,220&ssl=1 "ENG vs WI [WATCH]: Ben Stokes shakes his head in frustration after Zak Crawley’s unfortunate run out in the 2nd Test")
