Virender Sehwag accused Wahab Riaz of bias after Pakistan’s exit from T20 World Cup 2024.

Former Indian cricketer Virender Sehwag strongly criticized i Pakistan cricket set-up, highlighting what he saw as blatant hypocrisy and bias following Pakistan’s early exit T20 World Cup 2024. Pakistan’s shock defeat to the USA and inability to progress to the group stage, including a crucial loss to arch-rivals India, has strengthened their team management.

Virender Sehwag’s allegations of player selection

Speaking to Cricbuzz, Sehwag specifically targeted the Pakistan selector Wahab Riaz, accusing him of choosing a party. Riaz, who took over as chief selector recently, recalled quickly Mohammad Amir in the team despite the left-arm pacer retiring from international cricket in 2021 and publicly criticizing the team on television.

Sehwag questioned the sincerity of the selectors who once criticized the system but then promoted their colleagues when they were in charge, stressing the need for fairness and foresight in the selection of players.

“Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir are two names who used to give their views on Pakistan TV news channels against their national team. Now one of them is a selector and the other is playing XI. They criticized the party once and now that they are in charge, what are they doing?” Sehwag said.

“So these people who were criticizing (Pakistan cricket), if today they are strong, they become selectors, what should they do first?” “Mohammad Amir was with me, let’s choose him,” the 45-year-old added.

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Comparison with the dominance of Indian cricket

Comparing the situation to the management of Indian cricket, Sehwag cited the perceived status of a former player like him. Ajit Agarkar, is now a selector, showing a bias towards retired players over the current crop. He emphasized the importance of the selectors prioritizing the future of the party over their popularity or previous loyalties.

“Now that Ajit Agarkar is the BCCI chairman of selectors, he will say ‘Come Viru, I will help you get back into the team’. This is not done. You have to see the future. You have become a selector, you have a job in hand. Use it the right way, don’t spray it,” Sehwag concluded.

Backlash over Pakistan captains’ decisions

In addition to selection arguments, i Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) faced criticism for its handling of the captain’s decisions. After Shaheen AfridiThe T20I captaincy’s short stint came to an abrupt end, Babar Azam he was reinstated despite criticism following Pakistan’s 50-over World Cup disappointment. This decision, which was aimed at stabilizing the leadership, has not received good results as Pakistan has once again faltered in the main ICC tournament under the captaincy of Babar.

UPDATE: Pakistan legend Younis Khan names team to replace Babar Azam as T20I captain