Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Cricket Committee Chairman Saleem Yousuf on Tuesday said that playing cricket during the coronavirus pandemic was one of the biggest contributing factors to the national team’s dismal performances, according to a press release issued by the board.
The national team had failed to perform during the recent New Zealand tour, where they lost the Twenty20 series 2-1 and Test series 2-0.
Talking during a meeting of the committee, Yousuf said the committee had carried out a holistic but constructive, fact-based and objective review of the national team in the past 16 months.
“Nevertheless, we also need to take into consideration a number of other factors and the committee was of the view that cricket during the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the biggest contributing factors in the side’s dismal performances.
“All professional and high-performing athletes require an environment where they can prepare their best for the international stage, which was not the case for the last two tours and most definitely not at the last tour where players had been confined to their rooms for two weeks due to the policies of that particular Covid-free country,” Yousuf said.
“These big losses affected the team combinations that, in turn, resulted in the side’s overall below-par performance against a side that remained unbeaten in the past two-and-a-half years. The committee also believes more scientific and data-based work needed to be done on the players with improved communication,” he added.
The meeting was attended by Pakistan head coach Misbahul Haq, bowling coach Waqar Younis, PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan, PCB Director International Cricket Zakir Khan and other officials of the committee, including Umar Gul, Wasim Akram and Urooj Mumtaz.
