‘…should have been made captain’: Miandad disagrees with PCB’s decision to name Shan Masood as Pakistan Test skipper
Pakistan had a disappointing 2023 World Cup campaign, crashing out of the league stage after finishing in fifth position. Ahead of the tournament, they were one of the favourites to clinch the title, but saw most of their players lose form during their campaign. The team also faced plenty of criticism from fans and media, with PCB also reportedly increasing their pressure on Babar Azam.
Javed Miandad slammed PCB.(Getty Images)
After the tournament, Babar stepped down as skipper across all formats, with PCB appointing Shan Masood as Test captain. Meanwhile Shaheen Shah Afridi was named as T20I captain and the board hasn’t decided on a skipper for ODIs yet.
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The team will begin their post-World Cup campaign with a three-match Test series against Australia, away from home, in December. Commenting on the captaincy change, Pakistan legend Javed Miandad disagreed with PCB’s move.
Speaking to the media in Karachi, he said, “It is clear that Sarfaraz is a very seasoned cricketer and has done well as captain before for Pakistan and if he had been made captain it would have been vital for the team in Australia which is a tough place to tour. Sarfaraz Ahmed should not only be included in the team against Australia, but due to his experience, he should have been the captain.”
Meanwhile, there were other changes too as Wahab Riaz got appointed as chief selector. Muhammad Hafeez has been named as team director, Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal have been appointed as bowling coaches. Criticising this decision too, Miandad said, “I don’t see any logic behind bringing in players as selectors, coaches and director who have played with most of the current players.”
“This will have a negative impact on the team in coming days,” he further added.
Lashing out at PCB’s habit to hire foreign coaches, he said, “In the last two decades we have had so many foreign coaches and where do we stand as a cricket nation we couldn’t even reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. Mickey Arthur’s appointment on his terms was an insult to all those who can do a better job as coaches for Pakistan.”
