On Friday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) deiced to sack Sarfaraz Ahmed from the captaincy role from the T20Is and Tests. The Pakistan board named Babar Azam as the T20I skipper while Azhar Ali was appointed to lead Pakistan’s team in the longest format of the game.
Soon after the appointment of the new skipper, the Pakistan Cricket Board posted a video on Twitter as a reply to another tweet, where Pakistan players can be seen dancing during a training session but it was deleted soon after. However, a journalist posted the video again on his Twitter handle, leading to an apology from the PCB’s official account.
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The journalist tweeted: “Here is @TheRealPCB tweet moments after Sarfaraz was sacked. Classy. (Background score courtesy my one-year old)”.
Here is @TheRealPCB tweet moments after Sarfaraz was sacked. Classy. (Background score courtesy my one-year old) pic.twitter.com/QuCqxQTDXJ
— Osman Samiuddin (@OsmanSamiuddin) October 18, 2019
Giving the apology, the PCB wrote: “The PCB apologies for this post and accepts the timing of it was wrong. This was a pre-planned post as part of the one-year to go #T20WorldCup promotional campaign. The timing of this post clashed with the captaincy announcement for which the PCB offers its regrets”.
The PCB apologies for this post and accepts the timing of it was wrong. This was a pre-planned post as part of the one-year to go #T20WorldCup promotional campaign. The timing of this post clashed with the captaincy announcement for which the PCB offers its regrets.
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 18, 2019
Fans were not happy with PCB’s clarification, called the apology “pathetic” and “disrespectful”.
Pathetic, PCB. Plain pathetic. Also, just wait until Fakhar lets us all down, once again.
— Maria Shamim (@Mariaa_54) October 18, 2019
A fan even asked whether a two-year-old was running PCB’s official Twitter handle.
“Oh really? Apologies? Wrong timing? Is a two-year old running this official account? I, for one, would really like to know this! And then people say, there are no ulterior motives going on in PCB against any player. Pathetic!” the tweet read.
https://twitter.com/mysteriouslywow/status/1185131660230217728
Sharam tum ko magar ati nahi!
— Baber Hasan (@BaberHasan) October 18, 2019
Your explanation is more absurd than the tweet itself. And just look at the tweet video again, what kind of promotion was THAT!!??
— Azhar (@az_usmani) October 18, 2019
After being sacked as captain of the Pakistan team, Sarfaraz Ahmed extended his wishes to the new captains.
Sarfaraz said, “It has been an honor to lead Pakistan at the highest level. I want to thank all my colleagues, coaches, and selectors who have helped me in this journey. My good wishes are with Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, and the Pakistan cricket team, and I hope they will continue to grow stronger and stronger.”
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The decision on vice-captaincy will be made closer to the series, whilst captaincy for the ODIs will be finalized in due course as the national squad’s next assignment is scheduled from 4-9 July 2020 against the Netherlands in Amstelveen.
