Rashid Latif has lambasted the Pakistan Cricket Board over Misbah-ul-Haq’s appointment as team’s head coach after Pakistan was whitewashed by England in ODIs. Latif also questioned the board on the removal of Mickey Arthur and Sarfaraz Ahmed as the team’s head coach and captain respectively.
Pakistan was blanked 3-0 by an inexperienced and young England team led by all-rounder Ben Stokes in the recently concluded ODI series. Ahead of the series England received a blow when their integral team was forced under isolation after seven members, three players and four staff members contracted the virus.
The only time Pakistan came close to beat England was in the final ODI where they posted a huge total of 331 which England chased within 48 overs to win the series with a whitewash. Former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif lambasted the Pakistan Cricket Board over the team’s inability to win and also questioned Misbah-ul-Haq’s appointment as Pakistan cricket’s head coach.
“Today we have lost to a second-string England team badly in the One-Day series which means that our cricket is not good enough to even beat England’s bench strength,” Latif said on Cricket Baaz’s YouTube channel, reported India Today.
“I don’t blame Misbah-ul-Haq, perhaps he didn’t want to be a head coach. He was young and inexperienced as a coach, so why appoint him? It is the PCB to be blamed for what has happened,” Latif added.
In September 2019, Misbah had replaced Mickey Arthur, under whom Pakistan won the ICC 2017 Champions with Sarfaraz Ahmed as the captain of the team then. After Pakistan failed to qualify for the semi-finals in the 2019 World Cup, both Arthur and Sarfaraz were removed from their positions. Latif alleged the board’s politics as the reason behind axing the duo.
“Why was Mickey Arthur removed…what was the reason for his sacking? The team had done well under him and it was progressing well. Check the records and you can see, but he was removed because of politics,” Latif said.
Ahead of Pakistan’s T20I clash against England, Latif hoped that the Asian side could bounce back and show their worth away from home.
“Let’s just hope they can bounce back because we can’t afford any more setbacks,” the former Pakistan player concluded.
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