Off The Field

Wasim Akram takes dig at PCB for playing Zimbabwe

Written by Abhishek Patil

Legendary Pakistani pacer and former cricketer Wasim Akram has launched a fresh attack on the Pakistani Cricket Board (PCB) for scheduling a cricketing tour with minnows. Pakistan recently toured Zimbabwe before the Babar Azam-led side was thrashed by England in their previous away tour. There is no denying that the Misbah-ul-Haq coached side is on a downward spiral across all formats of the gentlemen’s game.

The decision-making of the upper echelons at the PCB has seemingly made life difficult for players to polish their skills against world-class opponents. Echoing the same sentiments after Pakistan’s dreadful performance against England in the twin white-ball series, Akram slammed the apex cricket board of the Pakistani side. Taking a dig at the PCB before Pakistan’s next assignment in the West Indies, Akram said he wants to meet the genius who is organising his nation’s tours with teams like Zimbabwe.

“I want to meet that genius who is organising tours of Zimbabwe. I want to offer him extra praise and say ‘well done, you’ve done a great job’. It is not going to benefit us. It will only be helpful for them. Once in four years, I’m ok with that,” Akram told ARY News. The 1992 World Cup winner with Imran Khan’s Pakistan also lauded India’s recruiting system by highlighting its approach of playing all three formats by assembling two-star studded teams.

While Pakistan have scored a blank in most of their away tours against cricketing superpowers, India have had an exceptional run across all formats. Virat Kohli-led Team made it to the final of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship and the white-ball side led by Shikhar Dhawan is on course to register another series win over Sri Lanka.

“If you compare with India. Their one team is in Sri Lanka, another is in England. And they can raise another team. They improved their system 10 years ago. They invested money, brought in professionals,” Akram added.

About the author

Abhishek Patil