PCB removes captain and coach from selection committee in latest reshuffle

In a big development, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made another change in the selection committee for the men's national team. The board has decided to revamp the committee by reducing its size from seven members to just five. The change was brought in after Pakistan's defeat in the first Test against England.

Recently, Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, and Azhar Ali were appointed as the new members of the selection committee. By reducing the size of the selection committee to five, the PCB has given the full authority to them to select the Playing XI for the upcoming matches.

The two members removed from the selection committee are the captain and the coach. It is a decision that has been taken in the aftermath of Pakistan's defeat to England in the first Test at Multan.

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PCB removes captain and coach from selection committee

The new selection committee consisting of Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Hassan Cheema will now make all the decisions regarding the squad and the playing XI. The selectors will now make a final decision on Playing XI before any match.

Although the captain and the coach are likely to be consulted by the selectors, they won't have a final say on the team composition. This gives the selectors the ultimate power as PCB aims to provide clarity in decision-making.

The PCB had earlier also introduced the new members of the selection committee with the non-voting positions. The non-voting positions are held by chairman Bilal Afzal, assistant coach Azhar Mahmood, director of international cricket Usman Wahla, and the director of high-performance center Nadeem Khan.

However, the PCB revised its website according to which the non-voting members along with the captain and the coach will not be in the selection committee anymore.

Why was the selection committee reshuffled?

The latest reshuffling is believed to be due to Pakistan's crushing defeat at the hands of the visiting England team in the first Test of the series, where the squad was picked by the panel consisting of Hassan Cheema, Asad Shafiq, captain Shan Masood, and head coach Jason Gillespie.

Pakistan lost the match after posting 556 runs in the first innings as England scored a mammoth 823-7 in reply. Pakistan were ultimately defeated by an innings and 47 runs. After the defeat, the board decided to reshuffle the committee.

Pakistan level the series by defeating England

The new committee removed high-profile players like Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah from the squad for the second and third Tests which also resulted in their criticism. But Pakistan performed well in the second Test and stunned England.

Pakistan prepared a spin-friendly pitch this time around and picked a totally different bowling attack comprising three spinners and one fast bowler. Offspinner Sajid Khan and left-arm spinner Noman Ali wreaked havoc and dismantled England's batting line-up.

Both the spinners picked up all the 20 England wickets in the match. Noman picked 11 while Sajid finished with 9 wickets in the match. The series is now level 1-1 with one more match to go at Karachi.