‘PCB chief has stopped taking Babar’s calls’: Former Pakistan wicketkeeper makes massive claims | Cricket News

NEW DELHI: Babar Azam‘s tenure as the captain of the Pakistan cricket team might be in jeopardy as former Pakistani wicketkeeper Rashid Latif, who is known for fueling conspiracy theories, alleged on Saturday that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Zaka Ashraf has been unresponsive to Babar’s calls and text messages.
Pakistan faced their fourth consecutive defeat, a closely contested one-wicket loss to South Africa, effectively sealing their probable elimination from the World Cup.Emotions in the country have been running high, with former players openly demanding a change in leadership at the helm of the team.”I know for a fact that Babar has got no response from the Chairman (Zaka Ashraf) when he called and messaged from India,” Latif claimed on the state-owned PTV sports channel.
Latif also claimed that players have pending salaries from their central contracts, amounting to at least four to five months’ worth.

“The players have not got salaries..the Chairman is not responding to the captain and in these circumstances what do we expect from the team.”
Latif also claimed that some senior officials in the board had now conveyed to the players the central contracts they signed before leaving for the World Cup were under review now.

Latif, who was one of the original whistle-blowers during the infamous match-fixing saga claimed that a lobby that wanted Babar to endorse surrogate betting advertisements are rooting for his ouster although he didn’t give any proof to substantiate his claims.
“You have to see who are the people who have been hit by this ban on surrogate advertising. Babar is being punished for his bold and principled stand on surrogate advertising before the World Cup,” Latif said.
Akram, Malik critcise Babar’s captaincy acumen
Legendary Wasim Akram was at his wits’ end to understand why Babar gave that 48th over to left-arm spinner Mohammed Nawaz, who isn’t known to be consistent.

“I don’t know what he (Babar) was doing? Why give Nawaz the over when he had not bowled well at all in the innings and was lacking confidence? Usama was the obvious choice with the fast bowlers having finished their spells. Poor captaincy,” Akram said on ‘The Pavilion’.
On the same show, Malik, who is a known Babar critic was more blunt.
“I have always said that Babar is not made for captaincy. He can’t handle the pressure and it is affecting his batting badly,” Malik said.
(With PTI Inputs)