Saeed Ajmal to PCB amidst England tour fiasco: ‘Board has demotivated players more than anyone else’
Mohsin Naqvi had told the world to stop demotivating Pakistan’s cricketers, and then former spinner Saeed Ajmal turned that statement right back at the board chief, pointing out that nobody has done more damage to those players’ confidence than the PCB itself.
Pakistan lost the opening two Tests of their England series heavily, and the PCB’s response was anything but measured.
Seven players, including Muhammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad, Aamir Jamal and Muhammad Awais Jafar, were sent home before the third Test at Edgbaston. Seven fresh faces were called up, five of them uncapped.
Jamal and Jafar hadn’t even played a single game on the tour, yet they were shown the door anyway.
Head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul also got their marching orders, with New Zealander Mike Hesson, Pakistan’s white-ball coach, parachuted in to take temporary charge of the Test team.
Saeed Ajmal fires back at Mohsin Naqvi’s ‘stop demotivating’ comments
The PCB chief had given a lengthy interview to Geo Network in the wake of the sackings, during which he called on critics to ease up on the players and insisted the board wasn’t abandoning them.
“I would not allow anyone to blame the players for the sake of it and ask everyone to stop demotivating the players. It is unfair,” Naqvi said.
It was that specific comment that drew Ajmal out, and while speaking on Samaa TV, the former off-spinner made clear he found the irony of the statement staggering, given what had just happened.
“The board itself has demotivated the players more than anyone else. The board is not letting any player stand. There are players who have done well, who are also dropped. There are players who have been humiliated by PCB,” Ajmal said.
He then pointed the finger at two men he believes are pulling the strings.
“Aaqib Javed and Mike Hesson are a team. These two are controlling everything and are responsible for this whole mess. The whole issue is about egos,” he said, before delivering the line that summarised his verdict on where Pakistan cricket currently stands. “Our team has gone back by 10 years. We have not planned for the future.”
Mohsin Naqvi defends record but also claims critics want him out
For his part, Naqvi has been anything but defensive in interviews. He pushed back hard against the narrative that Pakistan cricket is in terminal decline, pointing to improvements in ODI and T20I rankings under the current setup. The top official also insisted that the sackings were a tactical decision and were comletely based on recent form.
“Every match of a series is important for us, and we are not left with any option if a player is not performing but to look for his replacement. The purpose behind these changes is not to axe players from contention, but just to replace them. Consider [Salman] Agha, who is a very good player, but he could not click for some reason. He was spoken to about it,” Naqvi had said.
“Everyone has a right to criticise performances, but they portray these losses as terminal. It is not acceptable for those [former] players who have not achieved anything in life to push this narrative. I seek advice from former cricketers from time to time, and I feel that we are doing poorly in Test cricket.
“We have had a discussion to ascertain the reasons behind it. They include factors beyond performance and we will get to the bottom of it … I would not allow anyone to blame the players for the sake of it and ask everyone to stop demotivating the players. It is unfair.”
Naqvi also suggested the criticism isn’t entirely about cricket, as he believes that many want to see his back from the PCB offices in Lahore.
The third and final Test at Edgbaston begins on September 9, with Pakistan heading in under an interim coach, a reshaped squad, and the weight of a disciplinary investigation hanging over the camp after the cell-phone fiasco.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
