The Pakistan cricket team has been going through a rough patch with three consecutive defeats to India, Australia and Afghanistan.
With the team in shambles with back-to-back defeats, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) came out with a press release on Thursday that has stirred a hornet's nest.
The PCB's press release explicitly calls for the Pakistani cricket fraternity and fans to unequivocally support the Pakistan cricket team at this hour of crisis.
However, what has caught the eye of the media, fans and the wider cricketing ecosystem is the third paragraph of the press release where the PCB washes its hands off Pakistan's performance and places the responsibility fairly and squarely on skipper Babar Azam and chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq.
With the final para sounding like an ominous warning to Babar and Inzamam with the board stating that it will take decisions in the best interests of the Pakistan cricket team, veteran journalists are livid at the timing, context, tone and tenor of the release.
Veteran Pakistani sports journalist Waheed Khan tore into the PCB for its ill-timed press release.
"What kind of people are sitting in the PCB, I just don't understand. What is going on here and what are these people doing?,''he wondered.
"There is no need to do anything at this time as far as the PCB is concerned. They should not interfere and just let the team be at ths time. What is the need to issue statements such as this?..We are in the middle of the tournament. A day before such a crucial game against South Africa,'' he added.
Khan lamented about the fact that he was unable to understand what the PCB chairman was trying to do with these kind of press releases.
"What does Zaka Ashraf really want to do?..I am just not able to get it."
"The Cricket Management Committee which was formed in July, why are they not conducting the elections? Why is Mr Zaka Ashraf not holding elections. Forget about everything else and hold the elections,'' he added.
