Miandad, Akhtar lash out at PCB for ignoring Babar Azam

Karachi, Nov 18: Former Pakistan stalwarts Javed Miandad and Shoaib Akhtar on Saturday lashed out at the country’s cricket board for “forcing” Babar Azam to step down from captaincy and for not showing respect to the players after the World Cup debacle.
Miandad, regarded as one of Pakistan’s all-time best batters, also questioned some of the decisions taken by the management committee running the sport in the country, including the appointment of Muhammad Hafeez as team director and Wahab Riaz as chief selector.
“There was no need to remove Babar from the captaincy. They have acted in haste and in the process also shown no respect for a player like Babar,” Miandad told PTI in an interview.
Miandad said Babar remained the future of Pakistan cricket and he had been badly treated by the Board.
“Didn’t other teams lose in the World Cup or perform badly? Are their captains being treated the way Babar has been treated?” Minadad asked.
He noted that the haphazard decisions taken by the PCB would only harm Pakistan cricket in the long run.
“The board played a big role in disturbing the team during the World Cup with its games on the sidelines and the correct thing would have been to stick with Babar and give him more team as he is our best player,” the former great said.(PTI)