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‘Need to Start Looking at Players Beyond this Team’: PCB Chief Naqvi

All hell broke loose for Babar Azam-led Pakistan after losing to yet another T20 World Cup encounter to Team India. The men in green on Sunday succumbed to a 6-wicket defeat at the hands of Team India in what was their second consecutive loss in the ongoing tournament. While the battered and bruised side has been dealing with unending criticism, the humiliating defeat has also drawn a strong reaction from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief, Mohsin Naqvi.

Naqvi came down heavily on the team management, stating that the Babar Azam-led side requires ‘major surgery’ following its six-run loss against arch-rivals India on Sunday in New York.

“I thought the team required minor surgery to start winning matches but now it appears that we have to go for major surgery,” Naqvi was quoted as saying by the Pakistani media in New York.

The PCB chief also felt that it was time to start looking at players who had been sitting outside the team for some time now.

“It is very disappointing the way we lost to the USA and now this loss to India. We need to now start looking at players beyond those in the team right now,” he added.

Naqvi, who took over as chairman in January and later also became the interior minister in the government, made it clear that the PCB had done everything to facilitate the players.

“Why the team is not performing is something everyone is asking. The World Cup is still on. But obviously, we will sit down and take a look at everything,” he concluded.

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Sumit Seth