Yasir Arafat. (Photo Source: Twitter)
Former Pakistan cricketer Yasir Arafat recently came forward and lambasted the PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) for the poor scheduling of their matches. He pointed out how the upcoming domestic one-day tournament is poorly scheduled due to the England Test series coming up.
Pakistan recently lost a two-game Test series against Bangladesh, and with England set to take them on, the PCB decided to conduct the Champions One-Day Cup, which is scheduled to be held from September 12 to 29. The Test series against England will begin on October 7, and the same scheduling is not sitting well with Arafat.
“Your grey areas have been highlighted. Fitness issues, technique issues, and pitches. Today I heard Jason Gillespie and the high-performance coach are going back to Australia. You are conducting an ODI tournament. These decisions I don’t understand. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a circus. There are jokers in that, and this is a joke,” Arafat was quoted as saying by Sportskeeda.
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“You have a Test series against England coming up, and you are bringing players for ODIs. Shan Masood is saying in a press conference that our players have not played first-class cricket for 1.5 years. You have a big series against England coming up, and you are playing ODIs. This looks like a circus to me. The people who are working are jokers, and their decisions are jokes,” he added.
After Pakistan’s recent series loss to Bangladesh, the side has slipped down to eighth place in the World Test Championship standings. With seven Tests played, Pakistan have only won two matches and lost the remaining five. The side took on Bangladesh under the leadership of Shan Masood but failed to win a single game in the two-match series.
The side has failed to win a single home Test match since January 2021; their losses have included losing to the likes of Australia, England, and Bangladesh. Their recent loss made it five consecutive Test losses for them, and with the England series approaching, Pakistan will aim to turn it around.