Inzamam-ul-Haq file photo©AFP
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has criticized the country's cricket board for sacking Muhammed Hafeez as team director over recent poor performances, refusing to hold officials accountable. However, he argued that it was unfair to “target” former players in managerial positions. For side performance. PCB parted ways with Hafeez last month after losing a 3-0 Test in Australia and then losing 4-1 to New Zealand in the T20 International series. Hafeez's contract was initially short-term, but was terminated after the T20 series in New Zealand following the Ministry of Sports' recommendation against a long-term contract.
“Can someone please explain to me why they removed Muhammad Hafeez as team director after the Australia and New Zealand tour and retained Wahab Riaz as chief selector?” Inzamam said on TV.
“They were not appointed at the same time and given the same responsibility, so why is only Mr. Hafeez held accountable and not Mr. Wahab Riaz?” he asked.
The former cricketing great, who resigned as chief selector under difficult circumstances during last year's World Cup, has urged the PCB to start respecting players.
“There is no doubt that the PCB chairman is a highly respected position, but I don't think former captains or other influential people deserve the same respect from board executives,” Inzamam said.
Inzamam claimed that he was not shown respect by former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf during a dispute with the board over an alleged conflict of interest.
“A meeting was scheduled at the PCB office after this story broke that I had a conflict of interest as the lead screener.
“I was sitting with (PCB officials) Salman Nasir and Aliya Rashid waiting for the chairman to come,” he recalled.
“But he went to the academy and from there he called Nasir and Aliya to meet him. And he told me to wait because he wouldn't see me. After a while, only Aliya came back. He told me about the commission of inquiry,” he added.
Inzamam said Ashraf's attitude was harmful.
“I was hurt by this attitude of the chairman. Every detail of the agents and their companies working with the players is available at the ICC and the PCB and it was not that big of a deal, so I asked them to resign. We told them that we would do so and they could complete the investigation,” Inzamam said.
The former captain said he was still waiting for the PCB to release the findings of the commission of inquiry that investigated the conflict of interest incident.
“Pakistan cricket cannot be run in this way. It is time for board officials to accept responsibility for their actions,” he asserted.
Inzamam also said that he did not want to take over as chief selector before last year's Asia Cup as the previous selection committee had already chosen the members.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
