Shortly after England’s crushing win in first Test, PCB adds Aleem Dar, Aaqib Javed, and Azhar Ali to choice committee

The men’s selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board has undergone a significant restructuring with the appointment of former Pakistan cricketers Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali as voting members, along with domestic cricketer-turned-umpire Aleem Dar. The coaches will no longer have a vote in selecting the squads, but analyst Hassan Cheema, who was already on the selection committee, has been granted voting rights.

This news comes just ten days after Mohammad Yousuf, a former middle-order hitter for Pakistan, resigned from his position as top selector, claiming personal reasons.

The recent staff changes and chopping have caused the PCB to go through several turbulent periods.

Asad Shafiq, a former middle-order hitter who played for Pakistan from 2010 to 2020, was already on the selection committee. After combining to score 1,477 runs at an average of 50.93 in 29 Test innings, Shafiq and Azhar will get back together off the field this time, hoping to continue their productive collaboration from when they were wearing the national whites.

Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq were fired from the selection panel in the meanwhile due to Pakistan’s unexpected elimination from the T20 World Cup 2024 in June. There were no names disclosed for the PCB, which is led by Mohsin Naqvi, its chairperson. Shafiq was the only voting member left aside from the captains and coaches following Yousuf’s departure at the end of September because there was no one to replace him.

Appointments for crises follow the startling Multan Test defeat

The new agreements were reportedly reached a few hours after the team suffered a crushing loss to a merciless English club who outscored them by an innings and forty-seven runs. The fact that Pakistan became the first team to lose a Test match by an innings after scoring 550 runs in their opening innings only served to highlight the defeat.

Also Read: WTC 2023-25 Points Table: Here’s a look at latest standings after England’s record win against Pakistan in Multan

Following the humiliating defeat that saw Pakistan lose seven of their previous nine home games, Pakistan plummeted to the bottom of the World Test Championship 2023–25 cycle points table. With the addition of the aforementioned members to the mix, it will be interesting to see how they fare in the remaining episodes of the series.