KARACHI: Pakistan’s veteran wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan has argued that reports that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has fined national cricketers for poor performance in the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup are not official.
Rizwan was asked to comment on the reports of players being punished while addressing the media at the Hanib Mohammad High-Performance Center on the final day of the national team’s training camp for the upcoming ODI series against Bangladesh.
Responding to this, the former captain insisted that he can comment on the matter only when officially informed by the PCB.
He further lashed out at news agencies for “creating claims” without an official release.
“Many people have asked me about it, even the players have asked, but nothing official has come yet. If the PCB officially says a penalty of fifty lakhs or the management has imposed a fine, I can comment on it,” Rizwan told reporters.
“But nothing has been officially announced yet and these reports have only surfaced in the news.
“I can only say that claims like this, when nothing has been officially released, raise questions in my mind about how these things are presented.”
The three-match series against Bangladesh, scheduled to take place from March 11 to 15 at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, is Pakistan’s first international assignment following the T20 World Cup 2026 heartbeat.
Despite their 3-0 drubbing against Sri Lanka in November last year, the Green Shirts made significant changes to their squad with star batsmen Babar Azam, Faqar Zaman, Haseebullah, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah and Saim Ayub.
As a result, Mohammad Rizwan was asked if recent struggles in T20I matches have led to key players being dropped from the ODI squad and whether the mix-up of formations is affecting Pakistan cricket when analyzing the performances of the national cricketers.
Rizwan responded by claiming that he was not aware of what was going on in their meetings and took charge of the selection committee.
“Such thoughts can cross anyone’s mind, maybe they can also cross our people’s mind – if a player is dropped from ODIs because of his T20 performance,” Rizwan said.
“But I believe the selection committee can answer this better because they know the thinking behind such decisions. If I answer, I don’t fully know what goes on in their meetings.”