ICC World Cup 2023: Pakistan to sack entire set of foreign coaches, PCB to hold emergency meet, says report

After the Pakistan team's exit at the league stage of the World Cup 2023, there is a buzz that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) might dissolve the entire team of foreign coaches. This would mean that head coach Grant Bradburn, team director Mickey Arthur, and batting coach Andrew Puttick could lose their jobs and be replaced with a fresh set of coaches, a Pakistan news channel reported on Tuesday.

According to a report on Samaa TV, Pakistan head coach Grant Bradburn, team director Mickey Arthur, and batting coach Andrew Puttick are likely to be relieved, which would be decided at review meeting to be headed by PCB chief Zaka Ashraf. Ashraf is set to meet former captain Younis Khan on Tuesday and announce the decision.

Since Pakistan's underwhelming performance in the World Cup this year, the entire team has been facing significant criticism. Skipper Babar Azam was recently criticised for his leadership. Despite being the top-ranked batsman in both ODI and T20I formats as per the ICC men's rankings a few weeks ago, Babar's captaincy was questioned after Pakistan failed to qualify in the semifinals.

The board will also conduct a review of Pakistan's poor show in the tournament. Pakistan finished their campaign at the fifth position in the points table with 8 points. India, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand qualified for the semifinals round. India will be facing New Zealand, while South Africa will be taking on Australia.

Here's the points table after the league matches:

Pakistan was the No.1-ranked ODI team not too long ago, but of late has failed to reach the finals of this year's Asia Cup, and now the ICC World Cup. The underwhelming performance at both the two important multi-nation tournaments is believed to be the biggest reason for the sweeping changes. However, Babar found a champion in former ace bowler and World Cup winning captain Kapil Dev who defended the Pakistan batter's captaincy and said that people are criticising him based on his current performance and not his track record as the skipper of the side. The cricket veteran urged people to look at how Babar approached the game and the passion and talent he possesses.

"If you say that Babar Azam is not the right choice [for captaincy] today, it is because you are looking at just his current performance. He was the same captain, who made Pakistan team No.1 [in ICC ODI rankings] six months ago."

"When someone gets out for zero, 99 per cent of the people would want him to be dropped. If an ordinary player comes and scores a brilliant hundred, then they call him a superstar. So don’t look at just current performance. Look at how he has approached the game, how much passion and talent he has," Kapil Dev said at The Ranveer Show.

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