The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) sacked selectors Wahab Riaz and Abdul Razzaq on Wednesday following the team’s disappointing T20 World Cup campaign last month.
The 2009 champions lost to tournament debutants and co-hosts United States before crashing out in the group stage of the 20-team tournament.
“The Pakistan Cricket Board … has notified Abdul Razzaq and Wahab Riaz that their services will no longer be required in the national selection committee setup,” the PCB said in a statement.
Razzaq was a member of both the men’s and women’s selection committee.
Wahab remained the face of the men’s seven-member selection committee even after he was removed as panel chief earlier this year.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi had promised major changes in the wake of the team’s performances at the World Cup.
Following the team’s six-run loss against arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup last month, he came down heavily on the team management and said the Babar Azam-led side requires “major surgery”.
“I thought the team required minor surgery to start winning matches but now it appears that we have to go for major surgery,” Mohsin was quoted as saying by the Pakistani media in New York at the time.
Mohsin had also felt that it was time to start looking at players who have been sitting outside the team for some time now.
“It is very disappointing the way we lost to the USA and now this loss to India. We need to now start looking at players beyond those in the team right now,” he had said.
Meanwhile, rejecting the reports circulating in the media about him exerting “pressure” on the selection committee members, Riaz said: “How can one vote dominate six? Everything is documented on record in the meeting minutes. I will be issuing my statement today evening.”
Razzaq similarly asked: “If all were given equal power how can one vote overpower the other six in the selection committee?”
Riaz later said that there was a lot he could say but he did not want to be “part of the blame games”.
