CWI reduced the 5-T20I series to a four-match one due to time constraints.
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has on Tuesday (July 27) lashed out at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for agreeing to cancel the first T20I of their tour of the West Indies.
Initially, Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies was comprised of 5 T20Is and 2 Tests with the first T20I slated to begin from July 27, but the tour-opening T20I has been canceled as the five-match T20I series has been reduced to four-match series. The T20I series between West Indies and Pakistan will be now beginning on July 28 (Wednesday).
This was done due to the second ODI between West Indies and Australia being rescheduled after a COVID-19 positive case in WI camp.
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PCB's decision to agree to cancel a T20I has left Inzamam shocked, saying how the board could accept the Cricket West Indies (CWI) proposal of canceling the game as it is degrading to Pakistan cricket.
The former chief selector also slammed the CWI for rescheduling the T20I series, saying if a match had to be canceled, then it should have been from their recent series against Australia.
Inzamam said his latest YouTube video: “I can’t understand how the 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?”
He further added, “The final T20 will be played on August 3 while the Test series begins on August 12. So, there is a good nine-day gap in which a T20 game could have been easily accommodated. If West Indies wanted to cancel a match, they should have done it during the Australia series.
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 but won’t play with that side.”
The legendary Pakistan batsman also urged the ICC to look into the matter as a Test match had already been canceled to schedule the T20I series against the West Indies keeping in mind T20 World Cup 2021.
He signed off by saying, “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 canceled for T20Is as the World Cup is coming up. But now even a T20I is canceled so it is all so difficult to comprehend. There was a problem in the Australia-West Indies series but our match has been canceled. PCB should never have agreed to the proposal and West Indies should never make such a request.”