Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal continues to hold a grudge against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Ajmal, who took 362 wickets in international cricket for Pakistan before his career was cut short due to an issue with his bowling action, has often criticised the board for not standing up for him. Recently, after the Lord’s Test defeat by England, Pakistan sacked head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed, bowling coach Umar Gul and asked seven players to fly back home. One of those seven players, Imam-ul-Haq didn’t bat in either of the innings and was accused of faking his calf injury.
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi then, in an interview, tried to defend the players, asking the critics to stop demotivating them. 48-year-old Ajmal, however, doesn’t think Naqvi was earnest. “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 have also been dropped. There are players who have been humiliated by the PCB,” the former spinner said.
Deep Dive
Pakistan have already lost the series and stare at a whitewash as the third Test is set to kick off on Wednesday at Edgbaston. Earlier, in the same interview with Geo Network, Naqvi tried to convey the message that the sacking of the players wasn’t a personal vendetta. Everything that was done was done with the heart in the right place. “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 because of some reasons. He was spoken to about it,” he said.
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