New Chief Selector Wahab Riaz Comments on Underperformance by Spinners in World Cup

Pakistan men’s cricket team chief selector Wahab Riaz gave an interview to an independent cricket website where he expressed his views regarding Pakistan spinners’ performance in the 2023 ICC ODI World Cup.

Riaz said that the World Cup team consisted of players who had been playing regularly for the past 3-4 years, which meant that other spinners didn’t have a chance to get selected in the 15 for the touring party to India.

All eyes were on all-rounders Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz to provide the impetus to the team in the middle overs, but they both failed miserably throughout the tournament. Third-choice spinner Usama Mir came into the 11 after lackluster performances from the first-choice spinners, but he too couldn’t perform well and didn’t bowl deliveries on a consistent length.

In the last few matches, the Pakistan team’s captain Babar Azam, who stepped down earlier this week on Wednesday, had more trust in part-time spinners Iftikhar Ahmed and Agha Salman as they bowled while mainstay spinners were put on the bench.

Pakistan doesn’t play one-day international cricket till November 2024, but will the cricket supporters get to see new faces in different formats in place of Shadab and Nawaz?

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appointed new captains for Test and T20I cricket. It will be interesting to see how many newcomers join the traveling squad down under.