LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi met the selection committee of the national men’s cricket team on Saturday and assured them of complete independence in decision-making.
During the meeting, Naqvi advised selectors Aqib Javed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmed to continue their duties without pressure and reiterated his support for them.
“Do your duties honestly and without any pressure. Don’t mind anyone’s criticism for the sake of criticism,” Naqvi told the national selectors.
You have my full support,” he added.
In response, the member of the national men’s selection committee thanked the PCB chairman for reposing faith in their abilities.
The meeting comes amid criticism of the panel for axing key players from Pakistan’s ODI squad for the three-match series against Bangladesh, which will mark their first international assignments following the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 heartbeat.
Despite the Green Shirts’ 3-0 win against Sri Lanka in November last year, they made significant changes to their squad with star batsman Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haseebullah, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah and Saeem Ayub.
They were replaced by 6 players namely Abdul Samad, Mas Sadaqat, Muhammad Qazi Ghori, Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan and Shamil Hussain.
The criticism intensified as Pakistan fell by eight wickets in the series opener, during which they posted their lowest score against Bangladesh (114) and suffered a heavy defeat against the opposition with wickets and balls to spare as they chased down the target of 115 with 209 balls to spare.
However, thanks to the all-round brilliance of youngster Mas Sadaq, Pakistan lost the next match by 128 runs.
Meanwhile, following the meeting, the national selectors also held a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium here, with Javed expressing frustration over the repeated calls for change after the team’s failure in multilateral matches.
He insists that one of the biggest faults in Pakistan cricket is the constant changes from player selection to management and administration, which he says undergoes more changes than any other cricketing nation.
“For a long time, this has been happening in our country. Whenever our team loses a match, we immediately start saying accountability. People start scrutinizing, asking to drop or sack players,” Javed told reporters.
“It started after the last World Cup. It’s the same noise in Champions Trophy and Asia Cup. Whenever we lose, protests start and people demand to change the whole team. Change the captain, change the coach, change the selectors, even change the chairman.
“By doing this, we have done many injustices. In my opinion, one of the biggest mistakes of Pakistan cricket is the constant changes from the top management downwards. Putting the model of Pakistan cricket to one side and comparing it to the rest of the world, I don’t think any other team has made as many changes as we have.