The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and chairman of selectors Aaqib Javed continue to face the ire of former players after taking the decision to send seven players and two coaches back home from England following the team’s abysmal performance in the opening two Tests against the Three Lions. Earlier this week, the PCB gave Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Umar Gul marching orders. Seven replacement players were named in the squad, and the reins of the Test team were given to white-ball coach Mike Hesson.
On Friday, former Pakistan Test coach Jason Gillespie hit out at Javed, who is also the director of high performance, telling him to “look in the mirror” and stop playing around with the team.
“I feel for the players, this is these guys livelihoods. From the outside, it looks like they are playing with fear. Salman Ali Agha goes from captaining the team in the first Test against England to being out of the team for the second Test and on the plane home before the third Test. How does that work?” Gillespie told Code Sports.
Gillespie identified Javed as the main reason behind Pakistan cricket’s problems, saying there is no selection strategy and that plans are changed at the drop of a hat.
“It’s pretty clear they don’t have a selection strategy at all, particularly under Aaqib Javed. They change their mind like they change their pants — daily,” he said.
‘Make sense of that’
The former Pakistan pacer Javed has been vocal about Gillespie and Gary Kirsten, alleging that there was no communication with them, and the duo didn’t listen to him. However, this claim has been rejected by Gillespie time and again, and now he has said that Javed needs to stop venting his frustration at the two, as they are no longer involved with Pakistan.
“Aaqib Javed came out recently and blamed Gary Kirsten and myself for everything that is going on. Aaqib has been the chairman of selectors for the past two years. We haven’t even been there. Somehow, he claims it is our fault. Make sense out of that. I think Javed needs to look at himself in the mirror,” said Gillespie.
“There is definitely no communication between Aaqib Javed, who is meant to be chairman of selectors, and the players, The players who were sacked heard it through family and friends and the media that they had been sacked,” he added.
Speaking of Pakistan, the side suffered an innings and 103-run loss in the series opener at Headingley before losing by 194 runs at Lord’s.
The third and final Test starts at Edgbaston on September 9.