LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reduced the size of the national selection committee to five members on Thursday, marking yet another change to the group.
The national team’s captain and head coach, four selectors, a data analyst, and four ex-officio members—those who are not eligible to vote—made up the committee’s previous membership of eleven.
The PCB’s most recent action was to remove the head coach, captain, and ex-officio members from the committee. The five surviving members—former cricket players Aaqib Javed, Azhar Ali, and Asad Shafique, former umpire Aleem Dar, and data analyst Hasan Cheema—were granted overriding powers.
A PCB spokesperson informed Dawn on Thursday that the committee has been given the power to choose Pakistan playing XIs in addition to squads.
The selection committee has undergone a number of alterations under the leadership of PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who assumed office in February of this year. Initially, Mohsin assembled a seven-person committee that included the head coach and captain of Pakistan.
Later, assistant coach Azhar Mahmood, data analyst Bilal Afzal, and PCB officials Usman Wahla and Nadeem Khan were added to the committee by the chief of the board as non-voting or ex-officio members.
Further changes to the selection committee were brought about by Pakistan’s string of terrible defeats, which included their maiden Test whitewash at home against Bangladesh and their dismal loss to the United States at the ICC T20 World Cup, which prevented the squad from making it to the knockout stages.
Mohsin added Aaqib, Azhar, and Aleem to the selection committee after Pakistan’s innings loss to England in the opening game of the current three-match Test series last week, and he eventually removed six members from it.
On the other hand, the PCB chairman has continued with his practice of not designating a leader for the committee.
