KARACHI: As Pakistan looked to carve out a face-saving win in their last Asia Cup game in Dhaka on Friday, back home national cricket chiefs were busy discussing ways and means to put the under-performing team back on track ahead of the ICC World Twenty20 championship which begins in India from March 8.
Pakistan suffered morale-shattering defeats against old rivals India and hosts Bangladesh to crash out of the race to qualify for Sunday’s Asia Cup finale.
Their performance in the tournament was near catastrophic and ignited calls from all quarters for drastic changes in the Pakistan line-up for the all-important assignment in India.
Responding to demands, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced a so-called Special Committee that will help the Board carry out a post-mortem of the Asia Cup debacle.
“Shaharyar Khan has decided to form a Special Committee to inquire into Team Pakistan’s poor performance in the Asia Cup and also to examine the selection process for the World T-20,” a statement issued by PCB said.
The committee includes Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq. Ex-Test skipper Younis Khan, former Test spinner Iqbal Qasim, Shakil Sheikh (Chairman PCB Cricket Committee) and Subhan Ahmed (PCB’s COO).
“It will monitor team’s performance in the World T-20 and make its recommendations thereafter. The committee will be empowered to call any person involved in the team performance. The Chairman is already seeking the advice of his cricket advisors, Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis Khan. The Special Committee will begin functioning immediately,” it added.
Earlier, Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman, hinted at making sweeping changes in Pakistan’s management.
The PCB chief, however, insisted that Shahid Afridi will remain captain of the T20 side unless he himself pulls out.
“It wasn’t just a matter of disappointment but it was a painful experience to watch Pakistan play like that,” he said. “The performance was very poor other then few individuals’ performances, but I can assure that accountability is inevitable and whoever is responsible has to answer. Changes are important in the electoral process and leadership but we have to sit and think wisely. We are not going to make anyone a scapegoat or do the witch hunt but whatever we will do, it will be done with clarity.”
Afridi’s role as captain came under scruntiny after Pakistan controversially dropped Wahab Riaz for Anwar Ali in the game against Bangladesh. It was also observed that Afridi was missing from training sessions and skipped meetings with the coaching staff.
“I understand there is a lot of criticism but I am not going to change anything one week before the major tournament in India,” Shaharyar said. “Afridi will remain captain unless he himself pulls out of the job. He has been serving Pakistan from the last 15 years. There are problems in his captaincy which can’t be mended and especially at a time when his career is about to be end.
“Also, we don’t want to disregard the longest serving players of Pakistan cricket. So, I am not going to push a panic button and take any decision in haste. This is not my style. Some changes you will see will be done before we play our first matches in World T20 and other important changes will be done after the tournament.”
Pakistan have already rejigged their original 15-man squad ahead of the Asia Cup and World T20 by adding Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Sami and Khalid Latif. After the Asia Cup debacle, Shaharyar hinted at another wave of change, with the new ICC regulations allowing teams to change their squads before the start of the tournament.
It is expected that the selectors are considering dropping Khurram Manzoor, whose inclusion did not impress Waqar Younis, for the excluded Ahmed Shehzad. It is also understood that one of the senior members of the team management touched upon Salman Butt’s name, mentioning his utility after he was the second-highest run-getter in the recently-concluded National One-Day Cup, where he finished with 536 runs at 107.20.
Manzoor’s controversial selection was cited as a “judgement error” by Shaharyar. “It wasn’t an unfair call but I did show my reservation. Haroon Rashid made his point that Khurram is the best they have for the opening slot as there is no alternative. I was told that he was in form and has scored enough runs for Pakistan A team but eventually he failed at the top. But I can assure you that ahead of the World T20 there will be changes in selection as we will have time to change.”