Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq have been reportedly sacked from the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) selection committee after Pakistan's embarrassing exit from the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. Razzaq, 44, was recently appointed a member of both the men's and women's selection committees but will no longer hold those roles. However, according to a report in ESPNcricinfo, the Pakistan Cricket Board is yet to make any official announcement but it will be announced later this week. Wahab's exit does not come as a surprise, as the former left-arm pacer was earlier stripped of his position as chief selector when the board decided to disband the post.
Notably, Wahab was included in Mohsin Naqvi's cabinet as the caretaker sports minister when he was named the caretaker Chief Minister of Punjab. It is believed that Wahab and Naqvi shared a cordial relationship and hence the former was able to consolidate his position in the selection committee despite the dissolution of the “chief selector” post.
Naqvi, who is currently serving as the PCB's chief selector, is believed to have taken the bold decision after the conclusion of a meeting of Pakistan men's white-ball head coach Gary Kirsten, red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie and assistant coach Azhar Mahmood in Lahore on Tuesday, July 9. Apart from deciding on Wahab and Razzaq's future, the meeting discussed devising strategies to improve the overall standards in the batting, bowling and fielding departments.
The participants in the meeting also unanimously agreed to increase the fitness standard. It is worth noting that with the exclusion of Razzaq and Wahab, the size of the men's selection committee has been reduced to five members which includes Mohammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq, Bilal Afzal, a data analyst, the captain and the head coach. Pakistan's next international series will be a two-match Test series against Bangladesh at home in August.
