Former Pakistan pacer slams Misbah-ul-Haq-led PCB selection committee after embarrassing loss to England originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:- Former pacer Tanveer Ahmed slammed Pakistan's selection committee after their innings-and-103-run defeat to England at Headingley.
- England completed a dominant win inside three days, with their seamers dismantling Pakistan's second innings for just 135.
- Pakistan have won only five Tests since 2023, raising fresh concerns about their batting and declining pace bowling.
Pakistan's dismal showing at Headingley has triggered a fresh wave of criticism, with former pacer Tanveer Ahmed hitting out at the selection committee led by Misbah-ul-Haq following a thoroughly one-sided defeat to England.
England thrashed Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs, wrapping up the contest before tea on day three despite losing over half a day's play to rain along the way.
Joe Root's return as England's full-time captain couldn't have gone much better, as the Three Lions had earlier gone down to New Zealand in a Test series. The defeat had major repercussions as Ben Stokes stepped down as captain and Brendon McCullum lost his red-ball coaching duties.
England padded their overnight total by 43 runs to reach 409, establishing a commanding first-innings lead of 238. From there, their pace attack simply tore through Pakistan's second innings, bowling them out for just 135 in only 37.3 overs.
Josh Tongue and Ollie Robinson each picked up three wickets, while Jofra Archer chipped in with figures of 3 for 50, rounding off a dominant display from England's seamers. Pakistan's batting offered little resistance throughout the chase, with Mohammad Rizwan top-scoring on a modest 41, while opener Imam-ul-Haq was dismissed for a duck in the match for the second time.
Why did Tanveer Ahmed criticise the selection committee?Reacting to the defeat, Tanveer Ahmed didn't hold back in questioning the competence of Pakistan's selection panel, pointing specifically to the makeup of the committee and its apparent failures.
"Three batsmen on the selection committee, and your batsmen, the middle order, have failed. So what should I say, that they understand cricket very well?" he asked.
"Three batsmen on the selection committee, yet your batting is failing. And there's one fast bowler on the selection committee who is ruining the cricket of fast bowlers by making turning pitches for spinners inside Pakistan.
"So this is your selection committee. From the mindset they have and what they are doing, you can easily get an idea of where your cricket is heading."
MORE: Salman Agha jokes about giving Pakistan captaincy back to Babar Azam 1st Test defeat
View this post on InstagramThe numbers back up the growing frustration. Pakistan have managed just five Test wins since 2023, and four of those have come on home soil.
That pattern reflects a broader shift in how Pakistan's domestic pitches have been prepared, increasingly tailored to favour spin. It is a trend that's coincided with a noticeable decline in the pace bowling quality that once defined the country's cricketing identity on the world stage.
With the series already slipping away, Pakistan now need an immediate turnaround heading into the second Test at Lord's, which begins on Thursday.
Stand-in captain Salman Agha will be hoping regular skipper Babar Azam can recover from his finger injury in time to return to the side and provide some much-needed stability at the top.
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Tanveer Ahmed's criticism reflects a deeper structural problem in Pakistan cricketAhmed's frustration is understandable, and the underlying point about selection committee composition deserves to be brought up.
Even after having three batters on a panel, the batting unit repeatedly collapsing does raise fair questions about accountability and self-assessment within Pakistan's cricket setup. It's a legitimate criticism, not just an emotional reaction to one bad loss.
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The pitch preparation issue, though, cuts even deeper and arguably matters more long-term. Pakistan built its cricketing reputation on producing fearsome fast bowlers, and deliberately shaping domestic conditions to favour spin risks permanently eroding that legacy.
If young pacers aren't getting conditions that reward pace and aggression, the talent pipeline will keep thinning regardless of who sits on the selection committee.
Truth is, you can't pin this whole mess on a handful of selectors. Batting technique across the board looks shaky, player development's been patchy at best, and domestic cricket just isn't producing enough depth to fall back on when things go wrong at the top level.
Reshuffling a panel might make headlines, but it won't fix any of that. What Pakistan actually needs is a proper, top-to-bottom rethink of how the game's being run; otherwise this slide keeps going, and pretty soon there's no turning back from it.
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