Mohsin Naqvi Drags India While Defending 7 Players, 2 Coaches Sacking

Gautam Gambhir, Mohsin Naqvi and Sarfaraz Ahmed [Source: AFP]

The Pakistan Cricket Board have seen its most chaotic phase in the span of the last few days with multiple coaching staff overhauls alongside the sacking of players from the national setup. 

While all of those concerns remained centred around the poor performance of the team in the England tour, the PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi has now delivered a statement that clarifies his intent.

Speaking on the issue, Naqvi also dragged India’s humiliating loss against Ireland to cite as an example of how Pakistan’s dip in performance can be justified.

Mohsin Naqvi shows India mirror to Pakistan journalists

Pakistan’s overall outcome in cricket in recent months hasn't been something that they can take pride in. Across formats, in the last 6-7 months, Pakistan have lost 8 out of the 12 international matches they played, with most of the defeats coming away from home.

The consecutive Test defeats in the England tour in August resulted in the sacking of Test coach Sarfaraz Ahmed, amongst others, while players like Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq and Salman Ali Agha were axed from the team as three of the seven players removed.

Addressing the panic removals and recent defeats of the team, Mohsin Naqvi was optimistic while citing the painful giant-slaying losses of South Africa in the Namibia tri-series and the India whitewash in Ireland.

“South Africa lost to Namibia, while India had also suffered a defeat against Ireland. Does that mean their cricket is over? Absolutely not. No team can become a champion in just three months,” Naqvi said as stated by Pakistan media.

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Mohsin Naqvi praises Pakistan’s promotion in world rankings

Naqvi has also claimed later that the Pakistan cricket team have climbed from 9th to 5th and 6th ICC rankings since his arrival, however, that fact remains partially true.

“Pakistan have shown significant improvement, climbing from No. 9 to No. 6 in the T20I rankings and from No. 8 to No. 5 in ODI cricket. Those who say cricket has been destroyed since I came should look at what the rankings were before," Naqvi added.

It is important to note that Naqvi came to chair the PCB in February 2024. Before that, according to May annual updates from the ICC, Pakistan had their peak ODI form with 2nd position on the ICC ODI team rankings and also had a significant standing in T20Is at 4th position.

Immediately after Mohsin Naqvi’s arrival, Pakistan slid down to 4th and 7th positions in the May 2024 ICC rankings update in ODI and T20I, respectively. In 2025, the rankings for Pakistan were 4th and 8th in ODIs and T20Is, and currently, in the 2026 annual update, Pakistan ranks 5th in ODIs and 7th in T20I world rankings.

To give some credit to Naqvi, though, the Men in Green stand 5th in ODIs and 6th in T20Is after the August 27, 2026 update from the ICC.

How did Pakistan fare before and after major team overhauls?

The last massive overhaul that took place in the Pakistan cricket team was after their World Cup exit in 2023. Following the changes, the previous PCB chief, Zaka Ashraf, had to exit his role too. That didn’t bring much change in the temperament of the team.

After the massive overhaul, the Men in Green managed only 60 wins from 125 matches across formats, which also includes the reign of Mohsin Naqvi.

Significantly enough, Pakistan, since Ramiz Raja’s reign as PCB chief in 2021, has given a much better performance till the 2023 overhaul. They won 56 out of their 97 international matches at a win percentage of 57.73%. 

Hence, even though the overhaul was brought for a massive change, it only resulted in a 16.85% dip in the team’s performance across formats.

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