Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Mohsin Naqvi has revealed the real reason behind dropping explosive opener, Fakhar Zaman from the Central Contract list and the white-ball squads for the tour of Australia and Zimbabwe.
During a press conference today regarding the announcement of Pakistan’s white-ball captaincy, Naqvi responded to a question regarding the dropping of Pakistan’s swashbuckling opener.
Naqvi stated that Fakhar Zaman’s decision to tweet in favor of Babar Azam, after Pakistan’s former captain was dropped midway through the England Test series, played a part in being dropped.
The PCB chairman stated that while the tweet, which led to a show cause notice being served to Fakhar, played a part, it was not the only reason. Naqvi revealed that Fakhar had failed the recently held fitness test, which was also a major cause of concern for the whole PCB management.
Fakhar has been at the forefront of the recent controversies related to cricket in Pakistan as he had earlier spoken out against PCB’s policies, specifically the No Objection Certificate (NOC) rulings regarding the franchise league participation, which might have irked the powerful PCB officials.
Following the meeting, Fakhar had tweeted in support of Babar Azam after the former captain was dropped from the Test squad in the recently concluded three-match Test series against England. Fakhar had tweeted that Babar Azam has been a world-class performer for the side and he should have been supported by the PCB during this hard period.
The whole saga regarding Fakhar’s exclusion from the Central Contract list and the white-ball squads has caused a ruckus on Social Media with fans lending their support to Pakistan’s left-handed opener.