The Pakistan Cricket Board’s interim management committee chairman, Zaka Ashraf, met with former Test cricketers on Tuesday. However, no former player will join him when he meets with Pakistan’s team director Mickey Arthur and captain Babar Azam on Wednesday to discuss the team’s disappointing performance at the World Cup.
With chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq having resigned, the PCB currently has no former Test cricketers on their payroll apart from Misbah-ul-Haq. This leaves Misbah as the only one to question Arthur and Babar about the team’s failure in India, where they lost five out of nine matches and exited the tournament in the league stage.
Former Pakistan captain Misbah heads the PCB’s national technical committee but is currently working as an expert on a World Cup broadcast on a private television channel. The acting chairman of selectors, former Test spinner Tauseef Ahmed, was another option to join Zaka for the meeting, but reports suggest that the PCB has dissolved the entire selection committee.
Former captain Younis Khan, and former pacers Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanvir met with Zaka on Tuesday as the PCB begins its evaluation of Pakistan’s performance at the World Cup and plans for the upcoming Test series against Australia. It is reported that the trio advised Zaka against making significant changes ahead of the tour of Australia.
With One-day International cricket not a top priority in the coming years, the former players also instructed the PCB to shift its focus to red-ball cricket. Additionally, there are discussions of offering Younis a coaching assignment to mentor young players in Karachi.