Pakistan ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan has been accused of insulting the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and has been asked to take a strict action.
Pakistan Cricket has been surrounded by lots of drama and controversies recently. On the top of that Mohammad Rizwan has opted to play club cricket rather than participate in the national T20 Cup, which is organised by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)
The move is drawing a lot of controversies from all corners. Among those, Pakistan pacer Sikander Bakht has also jumped on the bandwagon, asking PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi to be ‘strict’ and stop Rizwan’s central contract.
With Rizwan is already under critics after Pakistan’s downed performance in the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy, where the side crashed out in the group stage. Rizwan was also dropped from T20I squad for the Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand 2025.
Speaking after the Pakistan’s loss in the second T20I against New Zealand, Sikander Bakht said that the centrally-contracted players are ’employees’ of the PCB and hence, they must be available for all the tournaments the board organises.
“They are employees of the Pakistan Cricket Board. They get 60 lakh per month, so they must play in the tournaments the PCB is organising. The buck stops with PCB. They have to make sure that players are available,” said Sikander Bakht.
If you are playing club cricket and not playing the tournament the board has organised, it means you are insulting the PCB,” said Bakht.
“This shouldn’t happen. Mohsin Naqvi needs to be strict. He comes off as a polite person, but he needs to change his ways. You have to ask what is happening. Be strict. Stop their central contracts,” he added.
In the Champions Trophy, Rizwan’s leadership and batting performances has been underwhelming. He scored 3 and 46 against New Zealand and India, aggregating 49 runs in the two matches he played in the competition.
However, the results have gone downhill from there. Earlier, Pakistan bowler Sarfraz Nawaz called out Rizwan’s body language during the Champions Trophy match against India.
“There’s no doubt about that (India are ahead of Pakistan). When I watched the toss, I saw the reaction of the Pakistan captain (Mohammad Rizwan). He looked lost somewhere. I don’t know if it was due to pressure, but he didn’t look the same as he generally does,” told Nawaz.
“Unlike in other matches, he wasn’t blabbering at all; he was just quiet. I don’t know what went wrong there. Pakistan’s selection was very poor,” concluded Sarfraz Nawaz.
