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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Stalin lashes out at Centre, calls union budget a 'revenge' against country
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday launched a sharp attack against the ruling BJP at the Centre over the 2024-25 Union Budget, calling it a 'revenge' taken by the saffron party against the country and warned it will face more electoral defeats since it was committing "mistake after mistake."
Explaining his decision to boycott the Niti Aayog meeting scheduled in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, Stalin said he was 'compelled' to speak in the people's forum, seeking justice due to the "discriminatory attitude" towards Tamil Nadu reflected in the budget.
The state's pleas for disaster relief to the tune of Rs 37,000 crore and Chennai Metro Rail's second phase were not heeded to, he said in a statement.
Further, the BJP runs "the government with political motive".
"The budget presented on July 23 is evidence of this. In the recently held parliamentary elections, the people of various states defeated the anti-people BJP. The Budget presented by Union Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) seems like a vengeful act against the States and people who boycotted the BJP. Instead of preparing a budget for the welfare of all Indians, she has prepared a budget to take revenge against those who voted for the INDIA bloc," he alleged.
The Union BJP government was disregarding Tamil Nadu continuously.
The Centre has held up funds that should have been released as usual for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, he said and alleged the former is 'adamant' that it will release funds only after agreeing to implement the NEP.
On the announcement that the stamp duty levied by the states will be reduced, he said it was done so without consulting the states. The GST system has already taken away the right of taxation powers away from the states.
"When they have not even disbursed the GST compensation of Rs 20,000 crore to Tamil Nadu, who gave them the authority to alter the tax levying system of the states. The middle-class is suffering without any concession in income tax for the last 10 years. The Union Government is patting their own back for announcing a meagre tax benefit of up to Rs 17,500 per year to individual taxpayers under the NTR (New Tax Regime) when majority can't avail that too," the CM said.
"This is not just a budget taking revenge on Tamil Nadu—it is a budget that takes revenge against entire India! This is a 'save the government budget' of BJP to remain in power. As the voice of the people of Tamil Nadu, in fact, as the voice of all the Indian people, let me say something--You (BJP) are committing mistake after mistake. You will suffer more and more defeats. Just as both houses of the Indian Parliament are in outrage, the hearts of Indian people are also raging against you. The BJP must answer," Stalin, president of the ruling DMK, said.
