LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday terminated the services of Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riaz as members of the national selection committee.

The PCB also notified that services of Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riaz will no longer be required in the national selection committee setup.

Abdul Razzaq was a member of the men’s and women’s selection committee, while Wahab was a member of the men’s selection committee. The remaining five selection committee members are the head coach and captain of the respective formats, Mohammad Yousuf, Asad Shafiq and Bilal Afzal.

The PCB will provide further updates on the selection committee’s composition in due course, a PCB spokesman, said.

Wahab Riaz has rejected allegation of putting any influence and arbitrariness in team selection and termed it as baseless.

“No pressure was put in the selection of the team and questioned how one person’s vote could dominate six people (members),” Wahab said, adding: “Minutes of everything and meetings are on record.”

Wahab had also travelled with the Pakistan side to the T20 World Cup as senior team manager, another duty he is likely to be stripped of. Wahab was facing criticism after dismal performance of Team Pakistan in World T20I.

It may be noted that the Chairman PCB met the former Pakistan players in Lahore to discuss player development, strategies for strengthening domestic cricket and the performance of the national team. The former players gave recommendations to improve the performance of the national cricket team. The fitness of the players and their performances in the recently concluded ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 were also discussed.

Recommendations to establish academies under the PCB’s watch in different cities were also floated by the former players. They raised their concerns regarding the need for improvement in the coaching field both in domestic cricket and grassroots level.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024