PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi Reveals Why Fakhar Zaman Was Dropped From Pakistan’s White-Ball Teams & Central Contract List – News18

Last Updated:October 28, 2024, 06:43 IST

According to PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, any national team player cannot go around tweeting his opinion on calls made by the selection committee.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took to X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday (October 27) to announce Men in Green’s squad for the upcoming white-ball tours of Australia and Zimbabwe. Pakistan announced four separate teams for ODI and T20I series each in Australia and Zimbabwe, but in none of the squads, Fakhar Zaman was included. In addition to that, the left-handed batter, who was Pakistan’s best player in the ODI World Cup last year, was dropped from the central contract list for the 2024-25 season.

After Pakistan’s white-ball squads as well as the central contract list were released by PCB on Sunday afternoon, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi attended a media conference in the evening in Lahore, where, while speaking to reporters, he revealed the reason for leaving Fakhar out of both the team and central contract list.

According to Naqvi, who assumed PCB leadership earlier this year, Fakhar’s tweet in which he questioned selectors decision to drop Babar Azam from Pakistan’s Test team for the last two matches of the recently concluded series against England played a big role in addition to his poor fitness.

Naqvi said that any national team player cannot go around tweeting his opinion on calls made by the selection committee.

“Tweet was one issue, but the bigger matter was fitness. There is a show-cause notice pending against him, and we will see about that. He would need to prove his fitness; his point of view was valued in the Connection Camp, and I am very thankful to him for that, but you cannot go around commenting on the selection committee over selection calls. But ya, the bigger issue is of selection,” Mohsin Naqvi said in the press conference.

Fakhar, who made his international debut in 2017 and scored a century in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against India, is not on the central contract list for the first time in eight years, and there are high chances that he will not be picked to play for Pakistan in the near future as well.

Apart from Fakhar, opening batter Imam-ul-Haq, all-rounder Imad Wasim, spinner Usama Mir, pacers Zaman Khan, Hasan Ali, and top-order wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris are notable absentees from Pakistan’s central contract list.

Location :

Lahore, Pakistan