India's head coach Gautam Gambhir has an encounter with Aaqib where the former batter asked for reasons that has led to poor poor performance of Pakistan on field in Test cricket, ODI and T20 World Cups.
While Pakistan is performing better in the ongoing second Test against England in Multan, they lost the first Test despite scoring more than 500 runs in their first innings and were swept 2-0 before that at home by Bangladesh.
In a significant move to tackle the team’s recent performance issues, the PCB has revamped its selection committee, reducing its size from seven to five members. The new committee is led by former pacer Aaqib Javed and includes Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Hassan Cheema. Notably, the captain and head coach will no longer have voting rights in the selection process.
Talking about that meeting in a podcast, Aaqib narrated how even Gambhir expressed concerns about Pakistan's descending graph.
"We met the Indian players during our series against Sri Lanka. Gautam Gambhir ne mujhe kaha ke 'Aaqib bhai, yeh Pakistan cricket ko kya ho gaya hai? Itna talent hai, hum bhi dekhte hain, sab kuch hai, inhone kiya kya hai?' (Gambhir asked me what has happened to Pakistan cricket despite so much talent and everything, what have they done?)" said Aaqib.
The former pacer, who played in 22 Tests and 163 ODIs, said Pakistan's fall has taken the sheen out of India-Pakistan encounters.
"He (Gambhir) also feels sorry about it, because there are a few (top-level) teams, and the Pakistan-India matches provide the biggest thrill. So if your team (Pakistan) falls like that then one of the game's biggest matches loses its charm."
"ICC mei log haste hain (people in the ICC laugh about it)," he concluded.
Recently, Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a show cause notice to its centrally contracted player Fakhar Zaman for an alleged breach of the players code of conduct. Fakhar had questioned the decision to exclude Babar Azam from the Pakistan squad for the second and third Test against England in a social media post on Sunday.
Fakhar has been asked to submit his reply to the show cause notice by October 21 after the PCB informed him in a notice that he had committed a breach of his contract by criticising the board policies and selection.
"It's concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn't bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively.
"If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team. There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them," Fakhar wrote on X.
Pakistan managed to lose the first Test despite scoring 556 in the first innings.
While Pakistan is performing better in the ongoing second Test against England in Multan, they lost the first Test despite scoring more than 500 runs in their first innings and were swept 2-0 before that at home by Bangladesh.
In a significant move to tackle the team’s recent performance issues, the PCB has revamped its selection committee, reducing its size from seven to five members. The new committee is led by former pacer Aaqib Javed and includes Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, and Hassan Cheema. Notably, the captain and head coach will no longer have voting rights in the selection process.
Talking about that meeting in a podcast, Aaqib narrated how even Gambhir expressed concerns about Pakistan's descending graph.
"We met the Indian players during our series against Sri Lanka. Gautam Gambhir ne mujhe kaha ke 'Aaqib bhai, yeh Pakistan cricket ko kya ho gaya hai? Itna talent hai, hum bhi dekhte hain, sab kuch hai, inhone kiya kya hai?' (Gambhir asked me what has happened to Pakistan cricket despite so much talent and everything, what have they done?)" said Aaqib.
The former pacer, who played in 22 Tests and 163 ODIs, said Pakistan's fall has taken the sheen out of India-Pakistan encounters.
"He (Gambhir) also feels sorry about it, because there are a few (top-level) teams, and the Pakistan-India matches provide the biggest thrill. So if your team (Pakistan) falls like that then one of the game's biggest matches loses its charm."
"ICC mei log haste hain (people in the ICC laugh about it)," he concluded.
Recently, Pakistan Cricket Board has issued a show cause notice to its centrally contracted player Fakhar Zaman for an alleged breach of the players code of conduct. Fakhar had questioned the decision to exclude Babar Azam from the Pakistan squad for the second and third Test against England in a social media post on Sunday.
Fakhar has been asked to submit his reply to the show cause notice by October 21 after the PCB informed him in a notice that he had committed a breach of his contract by criticising the board policies and selection.
"It's concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn't bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively.
"If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team. There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them," Fakhar wrote on X.
Pakistan managed to lose the first Test despite scoring 556 in the first innings.
