PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf feels Pakistan’s dismal last-place finish at the ICC Women’s World Cup was a result of pre-event tensions in India that affected the team’s performance in the tournament.
The team finished bottom in the eight-nation tournament after losing all their matches in the tournament. Pakistan ended up last in their group after three defeats on a trot before losing to the hosts in the seventh place play-off.
Pakistan women’s team went to India at a time when several right-wing political parties warned against their participation owing to cross-border tensions last month.
The PCB chairman spoke up on the issue after the team ended its dismal run.
“There was a feeling of fear in the team,” Ashraf said while commenting on the women team’s performance in the World Cup. “I am not saying that the team wasn’t provided security; it was just that their mental strength was affected due to the incidents before the tournament.”
Overhaul in women’s team likely
Meanwhile, major changes in the Pakistan women’s team are on the cards after their poor performance in the tournament.
According to a PCB official, the board will gauge the team’s performance and will take decisions after separate reports from the manager and coach.
“There are many chances of an overhaul in the team,” the official told The Express Tribune. “The results are not acceptable under any circumstances. There is high probability that the entire team management will be sacked. That would include the coach [Mohtashem Rasheed], manager [Ayesha Ashar] and captain [Sana Mir].”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 9th, 2013.
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Nothing but Lame excuses Mr. Zaka. Just focus on better training and development of team.
Pakistan and guts ??!! No way.
Attitude of not accepting the plain reality of weakness of Pakistani team and putting excuses for dismal performance will be main obstacle for improvement. Denial to accept the truth . appears to have developed in the minds of people which is very sad situation.
@Hashem: It need guts to speak up, but unfortunately we don’t have that in our nation…. be that be America or ICC. You can have the guts to speak up when your country commands respect in world fora.
@Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad:
It need guts to speak up, but unfortunately we don't have that in our nation.... be that be America or ICC.
Shame on the government and the PCB for sending our women's team to India, under well known confirmed real security threats, which even forced the Indian government and the BCCI, to shift the venue of the world cup matches from Mumbai.
Under the circumstances, PCB should have demanded from the ICC for the shifting of the world cup from India, else our team should not have gone to India, to participate in the women's ODI world cup.
Foreign governments and sports bodies care so much for the security of their players, that once West Indies and Australia forfeited their ODI world cup matches in Srilanka, just for the sake of the security of their players.
Now, since PCB has admitted that security fears were so alarming that it was the main reason of flop performance of our women's cricket team, in the world cup matches in India; some responsible heads must roll in the government and the PCB for jeopardizing the lives of our players, just for the sake of pleasing the Indian government and the ICC.
Fear the reason for international teams not visiting Pakistan.
Whatever, Just accept the womens team aren't that good. How about just accepting reality instead of digging an even bigger hole for yourself. The Pakistani mens team didnt have much fear when they schooled our team.