“Degrading to Pakistan cricket” - Inzamam-ul-Haq slams PCB for agreeing to cancel T20I against West Indies

Former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has lashed out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for agreeing to Cricket West Indies’ (CWI) proposal to cancel the first T20I of Pakistan’s tour of the Caribbean.

The T20Is between Pakistan and West Indies were scheduled to begin on July 27. However, the first match of the series will now be played on July 28, with the five-match series being reduced to four games. The development comes after the West Indies-Australia ODI series had to be rescheduled owing to a COVID-19 case in the West Indies camp.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Inzamam slammed both the PCB and CWI over the move. According to him, if a match had to be canceled, it should have been from the West Indies-Australia series. A puzzled Inzamam stated:

“Cannot understand how the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) agreed to it or how the West Indies board put forward such a proposal. As we all know, West Indies had to reschedule the ODI series against Australia due to a COVID-19 case. But what does the series T20 series against Pakistan have to do with it? How could the PCB agree to this?”

According to Inzamam, there was no need to reduce a fixture as the match could have been played later in the series. Referring to the schedule, the former Pakistan captain explained:

“The final T20 will be played on August 3 while the Test series begins on August 12. So there is a good nine days gap, in which a T20 could have been easily accommodated. If West Indies wanted to cancel a match, it should have happened during the series against Australia. What West Indies have done is degrading to Pakistan cricket. I am really shocked that Pakistan agreed to get degraded. You cannot do this. These are international fixtures and not club matches where you can say that I can play a match with this team team but won’t play with that side.”

CWI and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced a revised match schedule for the upcoming T20 International (T20I) series between the two sides, having cancelled the first game in what was supposed to be a five-match series.https://t.co/8QddSOZ3lV

— Jamaica Observer (@JamaicaObserver) July 25, 2021

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ICC must take note of what West Indies have done to Pakistan: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Inzamam further added that the ICC must look into this incident of rescheduling. The West Indies had earlier canceled a Test match against Pakistan to accommodate the T20Is. The batting legend opined:

“ICC must take note of this development. First, we compromised on a Test match and now on a T20I. I can understand the Test match being cancelled for T20Is as the World Cup is coming up. But now even a T20I is cancelled so it is all so difficult to comprehend. There was problem in Australia-West Indies series but our match has been cancelled. PCB should never have agreed to proposal and West Indies should never made such a request,” he concluded.

As per the revised schedule, Pakistan will play four T20Is in the West Indies from July 28 to August 3, which will be followed by two Test matches.