Nabi have raised two serious allegations. One is against the management for not offering enough practice opportunities before the World Cup. The other is against the selectors for not providing him the players of his choice.
Things began to roughen up when Mohammad released an official statement after a 4-run loss against Australia in Adelaide. There he offered his resignation to step down as skipper of the T20 squad. When results aren’t good & satisfactory, the leader is the first one who usually takes all the blame & responsibility. So, the decision to make himself accountable is very well taken. Having said that he has also passed some controversial remarks about the management & selectors to shift the onus which is rightfully questionable.
Nabi is disappointed with lack of international fixtures
While the first point is somewhat rational, the second one is quite baseless. Let me put some facts & figures to counter these bullet points. Historically & factually, the board has always failed to arrange extra series outside the FTP (Future Tours Program) approved by ICC. But looking at the severe outcome of covid followed by current run of political events, it has to be said that the job of ACB was that much difficult. We shouldn’t forget that there is an absolute economic sanction on Afghanistan. In spite of all these challenges, we do expect more proficiency from the board officials since ICC have been making payments on ACB’s behalf for all the international tours since IEA’s return.
If we look back at this year’s FTP, ACB have hosted Netherlands in an ODI series followed by away tours of Bangladesh, Zimbabwe & Ireland. The team has also participated in Asia Cup where they had the opportunity to play 5 more T20Is against quality oppositions. Although the board couldn’t manufacture more series, most of our regulars had the opportunity to play in all major global leagues viz. BBL, BPL, PSL, IPL, Vitality & CPL. So if preparation is a major criteria, this argument doesn’t stand tall.
Selectors were blamed for providing a weak world cup squad
Coming back to the other point where selectors were blatantly blamed to sabotage Nabi’s wishful choice of players, I can only say that this is a bizarre statement. At the time when the world cup squad was announced, ACB had received heaps of praise from all quarters. Now when the team couldn’t deliver the results, such an excuse sounds very immature. Before throwing down more arguments, we have to identify the contenders whom Nabi wanted in the squad. They would probably be Mohammad Shahzad, Dawlat Zadran, Karim Janat, Samiullah Shinwari & Gulbadin Naib.
It’s not as if these players were never given opportunities in big events. Shahzad is a classic example of someone who always broke down in big events due to poor stamina & form. Even if we neglect the fitness, there is nothing MS has achieved in this year’s BPL, Shpageeza & Green List A Cup. How can the selectors allow such a player in the squad who has been historically unfit & poor on current form.
Dawlat Zadran has been in prolonged exile due to injury & hasn’t played enough cricket off late. The rehab of a fast bowler always takes more time than the rest. If Nabi had demanded Dawlat’s inclusion over domestic performers like Salim Safi, it would have been unfair. Karim Janat on the other hand is a bit unfortunate to have missed the selections. If he hadn’t been sidelined by the selectors we could have never known how good he can be in the recently concluded first class tournament. Both Gulbadin & Samiullah weren’t that impressive in Shpageeza. Having said that Naib was still preferred over Karim in the reserves & was lucky enough to have played the last two matches in Hazrat’s absence.
Nabi however remained silent on his poor run of form
It’s quite depressing that Nabi never spoke about his own failures as a player. In the 18 international matches this year, Nabi have accumulated only 163 runs at an average of 11.64 & totals only 11 scalps which is less than 1 wicket per match. I always believe that a skipper has to always lead by example. That’s how one gets to earn respect within the team. Probably Nabi is going through a long lean patch but that’s not going to improve by cribbing about the management & selectors.
The team landed in Australia ten days in advance. Before the main draw, played four practice matches apart from the two warm up fixtures scheduled by ICC. But in the end, it was a collective failure of the team including the skipper. And probably it’s the right time for someone else to step up & take the afghan baton forward in world cricket.