Shoaib Akhtar slams 'incompetent' and 'jaahil' Mohsin Naqvi after Pakistan crumble against India in Colombo

Pace legend Shoaib Akhtar used terms such as “incompetent” and “illiterate” to describe Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi following Pakistan’s lopsided defeat at the hands of India in their T20 World Cup meeting in Colombo on Sunday.

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India extended their dominance of their arch-rivals at the T20 World Cup and across ICC events in general after bundling Pakistan out for just 114 after posting a challenging 175/7 on a tough wicket at the R Premadasa Stadium.

‘Biggest crime in the world is to give a particular job to incompetent people’

And Akhtar made the sensational comment while dissecting Pakistan's sub-par performance in the mega showdown on Sunday and everything wrong with Pakistani cricket in the build-up to the tournament.

“We were nowhere in the match. The Shaheen played… he was bowling at 125 kmph. This is not the requirement of modern-day cricket. These are not the talents that will handle pressure. For the last 15-20 years, there has been no investment. The sad reality of the situation is that while we fought with India on the ground at one point, today we can’t even dream of beating them,” the ‘Rawalpindi Express’ said on ABP News.

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“One guy who does not know anything has become the Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman. What can you do? How will the team run? You have made a superstar out of a player (Babar Azam) who cannot win you a game. The biggest crime in the world is to give a particular job to incompetent people,” he added, taking a potshot at Naqvi, whom he also described as “jaahil”, which translates to “uneducated” or “illiterate”.

How Mohsin Naqvi has been a polarising figure in cricket

Naqvi, who also happens to be Pakistan’s Interior Minister has been a polarising figure ever since he replaced Zaka Ashraf as PCB chairman in February 2024. He has also been the President of the Asian Cricket Council since April last year and had taken the Asia Cup trophy with him and locked it at the ACC’s Dubai headquarters after India refused to accept the silverware from him following their victory over Pakistan in the final. The 47-year-old would continue to refuse to give possession of the trophy to the Men in Blue despite pressure from the BCCI, and even had it moved out of the ACC head office to an undisclosed location later.

More recently, Naqvi had threatened to boycott the T20 World Cup in protest against Bangladesh getting replaced by Scotland in the last-minute after refusing to travel to India. The Shehbaz Sharif-led Pakistan government later allowed the Salman Ali Agha-led squad to travel to Sri Lanka for the World Cup, but announced a boycott of the India match in Colombo.

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Naqvi, however, made a U-turn on the PCB's boycott of the India match less than a week before the showdown following an emergency meeting with the International Cricket Council that was also attended by Bangladesh Cricket Board president Aminul Islam.

Naqvi had met members of the Pakistan cricket team in Colombo ahead of the mega showdown against India and was also present at the Premadasa, where he was reportedly set to meet ICC chairman Jay Shah. The PCB chief, however, had left the venue well before the match came to an end, shortly after Pakistan lost wickets upfront in its chase.