Though the names of the players have not been publicly revealed, it has been claimed that they were veterans Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq . A lot more than cricket seems to be behind the Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to send home seven players and replace two coaches on the tour of England ahead of the third Test. Multiple reports in Pakistan media are pointing towards a potential ‘fixing’ concerns involving the Pakistan team on the tour of England. The concerns were fuelled after the PCB reportedly confiscated the mobile phones of a few players.
Following the announcement of mass sackings in the squad, PCB Director of High Performance, Aaqib Javed , issued a public statement regarding an upcoming inquiry involving Imam-ul-Haq, who did not bat in the second innings of the Lord’s Test due to injury.
‘Fixing’ concerns are hovering over the Pakistan cricket team, with veteran players Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq in the spotlight.
When the PCB initially decided to drop the likes of Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Imam-ul-Haq, Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad , Aamir Jamal, and Muhammad Awais Zafar from the squad, the team’s poor performance in the first two matches of the series was cited as the reason. The board also decided to relieve head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul of their duties as part of the overhaul. Subsequently, seven players were drafted into the squad, including five who had not yet made their international debuts. Of these, the two capped players are batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal . The PCB’s Director of Media and Digital Communications, Amir Mir, fuelled speculation of potential misconduct within the team with a statement on social media. The statement from Amir came after Pakistani news portal Geo News, as quoted by Dawn , claimed that the PCB had obtained data from the mobile phones of two players, namely Imam and Rizwan. The data was collected by the board during an investigation into their activities and contacts while the team was staying in London for the three-match Test series.
