Mohammad Hafeez steps down from PCB Technical Committee ahead of ODI World Cup
Lahore (PTI): Former captain Muhammad Hafeez has stepped down from PCB's Cricket Technical Committee ahead of the ODI World Cup shortly after a review meeting of Pakistan's poor performance in the Asia Cup.
During the two-day session, two changes were made with pacer Zaman Khan and spinner Abrar Ahmed in line to replace injured Naseem Shah and allrounder Faheem Ashraf when the final 15-member World Cup squad is announced on Friday.
"I decided to leave Pakistan cricket technical committee. I served as honorary member. I would like to thank Zaka Ashraf sb for giving me this opportunity. I m always available whenever Zaka Ashraf sb need my honest suggestions for Pakistan cricket. My best wishes for Pakistan cricket as always," Hafeez wrote on 'X'.
Apart from Hafeez, the review meeting, which was called by Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Zaka Ashraf following the national team's loss to India and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, was attended by captain Babar Azam, head coach Grant Bradburn, Chief Operating Officer Salman Nasser, Head of International Cricket Usman Wahla and former skipper Misbah ul Haq.
Team director Mickey Arthur and the bowling, batting and fielding coaches of the team on line along with vice captain Shadab Khan were also there in the meeting.
Hafeez's announcement has added more fuel to a controversy over why chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq chose not to attend the review meeting.
A reliable source close to Inzamam told PTI that the former captain and a highly respected figure in Pakistan cricket had decided against attending the review meeting because he was not convinced it was the right time to do such an exercise.
"Inzamam is a very strong headed person and he didn't agree with the move by Chairman Zaka Ashraf to call such a review meeting and make Babar and Bradburn face uncomfortable questions by Misbah, Hafeez and other board officials," the source said.
He said Inzamam had not attended the meeting in person or on line on both days but he did reach the Gaddafi stadium on Thursday after the meeting was over and had a one-on-one meeting with Zak Ashraf to get final approval for the World Cup squad.
"Inzamam having been a former captain and top cricketer himself, made it clear he was not happy with the review process as this was the time to encourage and boost the team instead of putting them through an inquisition and showing distrust in their abilities," the source said.
Inzamam was apparently also not happy that Misbah and Hafeez had agreed to take part in the whole exercise.
Another source disclosed that Babar and Bradburn had faced some very uncomfortable questions and one participant at the meeting had insisted on making wholesale changes in the team including having a new captain, a proposal that was gunned down by others.
The source also made it clear that Inzamam would be travelling to India for the World Cup as he also did this in his previous tenure as chief selector between 2016 and 2019 and this was part of his contract.
Referring to the Hafeez's resignation, the source anticipated that he would be unhappy as his suggestions were not accepted by Babar or the team management at the meeting.
"Inzamam was adamant that this was not the time for questioning the team performance as there was no time to do anything different and he didn't like his selected players being questioned," the source added.
After a nearly 5 hour review process only two changes have been made to the squad that played in the Asia Cup and the PCB has left it up to the chief selector and captain to decide if they want to take one or two players as travelling reserves for the World Cup with opener Shan Masood expected to be one of them if done.
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Rupee rises 6 paise to 90.85 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee rose 6 paise to 90.85 against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday on the back of a weaker greenback and FII inflows.
A positive start to the session at the domestic equity markets lent further support to the local unit while a rise in global crude oil prices, coupled with geopolitical uncertainties, capped sharp gains, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.86 against the greenback before inching up to 90.85, higher by 6 paise from its previous close.
The rupee stayed range-bound and settled with a gain of 4 paise at 90.91 against the US dollar on Wednesday.
"As the dollar index fell and Asian currencies gained today (Thursday) the rupee opened higher... A risk-on sentiment in the markets and RBI selling near 91.00 levels ensured yesterday (Wednesday) also that rupee is unable to cross 91.00 levels with FPIs being buyers of equity and sellers of dollars," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent down at 97.57.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.21 per cent to USD 71.00 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex climbed 303 points to 82,579.16 in early trade, while the Nifty rose 85.1 points to 25,567.60.
On Wednesday, foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 2,991.64 crore, according to exchange data.
