Sikander Bakht, a former Pakistani fast bowler, is not happy. He’s calling out Pakistani cricketers who skipped the National T20 Championship. He thinks that as employees of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) making a good amount of money each month, they should play in every domestic tournament.
Pakistani media says that ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan chose to play club cricket instead of the National T20 Cup, which is run by the PCB.
Bakht is urging Mohsin Naqvi to get tough and punish those who don’t comply.
These guys work for the Pakistan Cricket Board. They earn a big amount per month, so they have to play in the tournaments the PCB puts on. It’s up to the PCB to make sure players show up, Bakht told Geo Super.
This can’t keep happening. Mohsin Naqvi needs to be stricter. He seems nice, but he needs to change his approach. He needs to figure out what’s going on and be strict about it. Maybe stop their central contracts, Bakht said.
Rizwan usually plays domestic cricket when he’s not on international duty. He decided to play club cricket this time because he just got back from Umrah in Mecca and wanted to chill before heading to New Zealand for the three-match ODI series.
Rizwan, Babar, and Naseem were all left out of the ongoing five-match T20 series in New Zealand by the national selectors. Pakistan, with a new-look team, lost the first match.
In other news, nine members of Pakistan’s team for the upcoming ODI series against New Zealand will train at the Lahore City Cricket Association ground, the PCB announced.
The players set to have a short training camp include white-ball captain Rizwan, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Abdullah Shafique, Imam ul Haq, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Naseem Shah, and Akif Javed.
Pakistan’s ODI team is heading to New Zealand to play a three-match series, is going to happen from March 29 to April 5.
Right now, Pakistan is playing a five-match T20I series against New Zealand and currently the home team is up.
