PCB blames COVID-19 for Pakistan cricket team's poor performance in England, New Zealand

The Pakistan Cricket team haven't had the best of the last sixteen months when it comes to winning matches. The Misbah-ul-Haq coached side played ten Tests in which they won two and lost five matches. Coming to the shorter format of the game, Pakistan have played five ODIs out of which they won four, while in seventeen T20Is they registered seven wins and eight losses. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Cricket Committee Chairman Saleem Yousuf recently said the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the biggest contributing factors for the team's overall below-par performances in the last sixteen months.

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PCB analyse Pakistan Cricket Team's performance

According to a report by ANI, the meeting under the chairmanship of former Test wicketkeeper Yousuf was attended by former Pakistan cricketers Umar Gul and Wasim Akram online, while Urooj Mumtaz attended the meeting at the Gaddafi Stadium. PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan and Director - International Cricket, Zakir Khan also participated as ex-officio members. Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis were also part of the meeting upon special invitation and provided their feedback and input to the committee.

Yousuf in his statement has said that there is no denying the fact that the everyone wants to see the Pakistan team to be ranked amongst the top three or four cricket playing nations and the recent performances do not do justice to the expectations nor the talent the team boast of.

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Commenting further on the team's performance he said that the committee was of the view that cricket during the Covid-19 pandemic was one of the biggest contributing factors in the side's dismal performances. The challenges of playing under Covid-19 protocols have not only been faced by the Pakistan men's national team but by all teams presently involved in international cricket and these concerns have been regularly raised by team coaches and elite cricketers.

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Pakistan Cricket team schedule in 2021

As per the report, apart from the home series against South Africa, New Zealand, England, and the West Indies, the Babar Azam led side will tour South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, West Indies and Afghanistan. Apart from these tours, Pakistan will also play in the Asia Cup T20 and ICC T20 World Cup which are scheduled in the second and final half of the year. Currently, Pakistan are 7th in the ICC Test Rankings, while in the ODI and T20I format the Pakistan Cricket Team are 6th (ODI) and 4th (T20I) respectively. 

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ICC World Test Championship

After being thrashed by New Zeland in the recently concluded Test series, Pakistan's next ICC World Test Championship assignment is against South Africa. The first Test of the two-match Test series will be played from January 26 to January 30 in Karachi, while the second Test will be played in Rawalpindi from February 4 to February 8.

Image: PCB Media / Twitter