Salman Agha said sending players home during the series was not a good thing
He spoke on Friday, October 30, at a press conference after Pakistan’s defeats in the opening two Tests
Agha was the first of the seven dropped players to speak publicly after the axings
Mohsin Naqvi Receives Stern Message From Salman Ali Agha: Former Captain Criticises Pakistan’s Mid-Series Player Drops
Former Pakistan captain Salman Agha criticised Pakistan’s decision to send players home during the England tour after defeats in the opening two Tests. Speaking at a press conference, he said mid-series drops were “not a good thing” and hoped they would not happen again
Summary
Former Pakistan captain Salman Agha, speaking on Friday (October 30), criticised Pakistan's decision to cut short some players' tour of England by sending them home, describing it as “not a good thing” and saying he hopes “it won’t happen again”. He is the first of the seven players dropped after the defeats in the opening two Tests to speak publicly, and they were later replaced by a largely uncapped group of youngsters.
He had also captained Pakistan in the opening Test while Babar Azam was unavailable, made 21 and 4, then lost his place for the second Test before being sent away from the squad altogether.
Rizwan Imam Probe
Two senior players also left early.
Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq were flown back to Pakistan on the first available flight and were then subject to an investigation into off-field matters by the country’s national crime agency. News18 reported that the agency falls under Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman.
Agha On Backing
“During the series, this (sending players home) has never happened before, and I don’t think it’ll happen again," Agha said at a press conference on Friday.
“Dropping players [out of the squad] during the series is not a good thing, and hopefully it won’t happen again," he added.
Earlier in the press meet, Agha was also asked how much backing a struggling player should get, and he said the current set-up leaves little room for repeated failure.
“You can’t say exactly how many matches it should be," Agha asserted. “But scoring runs in international cricket consistently is not an easy thing. We can only think why players are not scoring runs in every match. But if you are bringing in a youngster or if there’s a senior player who has been performing for a few years, then you should give him a decent number of games. If he fails, at least he needs the time to overcome that failure. They should not be dropped as soon as they fail," he added.
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