 "While the Pakistan cricket team has suffered a first-round exit from the Champions Trophy, the PCB came under fire once again after the Australia-South Africa match in Rawalpindi ended in a complete washout. AP")
Things have been far from ideal for hosts Pakistan a week into the ninth edition of the ICC Champions Trophy. On one hand, the Mohsin Naqvi-led Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had been facing a tough time responding to questions with the regards to their preparations for the ‘Mini World Cup’, with renovation work at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Karachi’s National Stadium getting done long after the initial deadline.
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And as if that wasn’t enough, the Mohammad Rizwan-led Pakistan cricket team has let the cricket-mad nation down with back-to-back losses against New Zealand and India, which has brought their title defence to an end before their final group match against Bangladesh.
On Tuesday, however, the focus was once again back on the organisational side of things after the Group B clash between Australia and South Africa ended in a washout without a single ball bowled.
Kaif questions PCB after washout in Rawalpindi
Former India cricketer Mohammad Kaif slammed the PCB on Tuesday after the match between former champions Australia and South Africa ended with the two teams collecting a point each. Kaif, who represented India in 13 Tests and 125 ODIs between 2000 and 2006, questioned if the board had utilised the funds that they had received from the ICC for the mega event appropriately.
The former middle-order batter also added that the entire playing area should have been covered for such an important tournament.
“It’s a shame that the Rawalpindi ground isn’t fully covered. Such an important match - SA vs Aus - might go down the drain because no one addressed this issue. Was the ICC money utilised wisely by hosts?” Kaif wrote on X on Tuesday.
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It wasn’t just Kaif reacting to the washout though, with BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla expressing disappointment over fans missing out on what would have been “a fantastic nail biting match”.
“We missed a big game today Australia versus South Africa because of rains in Rawalpindi. Both the teams are very strong. It would have been a fantastic nail biting match,” Shukla wrote on X.
The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium had largely escaped the unwanted attention that Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium and Karachi’s National Stadium had been getting in the build-up to the Champions Trophy as it did not undergo massive changes like the other venues, and thus was ready to host games on time.
Tuesday’s washout though, has ensured even Rawalpindi isn’t free from criticism.
Pakistani greats tear into Rizwan and Co, call for a massive overhaul
All the infrastructural problems arising from the 2025 Champions Trophy – the first global event taking place in Pakistan in nearly three decades – would have been forgiven, or quickly forgotten, had the Men in Green put up a better fight against New Zealand and India. Instead, the Pakistan cricket team continued to draw the ire of former cricketers and fans alike by failing to reach the knockouts of an ICC event for the third consecutive time.
What makes the first-round exit even worse for the hosts and defending champions is the fact that they had given their fans hope of a strong performance after a historic 3-0 whitewash of South Africa in their own backyard in December.
Pakistani cricket had reached an all-time low after their first-round exit in the T20 World Cup last year followed by a 2-0 sweep at the hands of Bangladesh at home soil shortly after.
With a 60-run loss against the Black Caps in the tournament opener last Wednesday followed by a six-wicket defeat at the hands of arch-rivals India, it appears as if the Men in Green haven’t really learned from their recent disasters, and are still in need of a major overhaul – a point that was echoed by some of the biggest names in Pakistani cricket .
“Enough is enough. We are losing in white-ball with these players from some couple of years. The time is to take a bold step. What is the bold step? As Waqar Younis was saying, bring young players, fearless cricketers, bring them in white ball cricket.
“Even if you have to make 5-6 big changes, do that, lose for the next six months, support those players. Start making the 2026 T20 World Cup team from now,” pace legend Wasim Akram had said on DP World Dressing Room following Pakistan’s loss against India in Dubai.
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Fellow pace icons Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar too blasted the current Pakistani team and its management, with the latter describing star batter Babar Azam a “fraud” .
It remains to be seen how the PCB responds to the senior men’s cricket team’s latest debacle, and whether it decides to look past the core group of players comprising Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen Afridi among others and bring in fresh faces or not.