LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has gone with yet another unusual approach in setting up the national men’s selection committee following the recent sacking of Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq as selectors.

Former Pakistan internationals Wahab and Razzaq were part of a seven-member selection committee — which featured other ex-players in Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Yousuf along with data analyst Bilal Afzal and the national team’s head coaches and captain.

But after further alterations following Pakistan’s disastrous show in last month’s T20 World Cup, which led to the removal of Wahab and Razzaq, the selection committee now has four voting members and five ex-officio or non-voting members.

While Asad, Yousuf, the captain and the head coach of the format in question are the voting members, Pakistan’s assistant coach Azhar Mahmood, now advisor to the PCB chairman Bilal, manager analytics and team strategy Hasan Cheema, the board’s director high-performance Nadeem Khan and director international cricket Usman Wahla are the non-voting members of the committee, which still doesn’t have a chairperson.

The recent reshaping of the selection committee, although not announced officially, can be confirmed through it being mentioned on the PCB’s website.

Asad will also continue to act as a member of the national women’s team selection committee, which will also have one more member in former Pakistan international Batool Fatima besides the captain and head coach. This committee, however, doesn’t have non-voting members.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024