PCB reorganises selection panel, does away with chairman's post; Shaheen Afridi's captaincy uncertain

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reorganized its selection committee on Sunday by doing away with the chairman's post and giving powers to the selectors to pick the captain and head coach of the national team.

PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi made the announcement in Lahore on Sunday in the presence of four members of the selection committee -- Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq and Wahab Riaz.

"The new selection committee will have seven members now including the team captain, head coach and a data analyst," Naqvi said.

He made it clear that the selection committee will have no chairman and all decisions will be made by majority votes or consensus.

"We took all pros and cons into consideration before finalizing the selection committee and I am saying this now the board chairman will now have no role in the team selection," he added.

The new selection committee was announced just hours after the old committee was dissolved.

Naqvi made it clear that the selectors would now decide what is best for the team and Pakistan cricket and handle all technical matters.

"The selectors are all professionals and will decide on the captain and also be part of the process to pick the new coaching team," he added.

While Yousuf, Razzaq and Wahab (ex chief selector) have been national selectors before, this is the first time that Test batter Asad Shafiq has been given this task.

He also said the new selection committee will shortly announce the names of the players to attend a two-week training camp at the Kakul army centre.

Naqvi also indicated that a decision on Shaheen Shah Afridi's future as captain of the T20 team will be taken after the upcoming national camp in Kakul.

According to sources in PCB sources, wicketkeeper Mohammed Rizwan is being tipped to take over as captain in both white-ball formats.

"The selection committee and board is working on two or three things and the selectors will take decision on the captaincy after the training camp in Kakul," Naqvi told reporters here.

"The selection committee has to do some brainstorming and sit together and decide on the captain," Naqvi said, adding that his committee is in favour of continuity.

Shaheen replaced Babar Azam as T20I captain after Pakistan's dismal show in the ODI World Cup in India. The decision was taken by the erstwhile committee headed by Zaka Ashraf, who also picked Shan Masood as Test captain.

It was Shaheen's success as captain of the Lahore Qalandars, having led the franchise to back-to-back PSL titles that got him national captaincy.

However a 1-4 drubbing in a five-match T20I series in New Zealand and finishing last in this edition of PSL has certainly weakened his case ahead of T20 World Cup scheduled in June.