Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi has revealed that the board is making use of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) to formulate squads for the upcoming Champions Cup.
Addressing the media on Monday (August 26), Naqvi expressed his confidence on the selected players for the Champions Cup, saying that they will replace the non-performers in the national team.
Pakistan cricket is going through a tumultuous time lately. While the team is failing to win anything meaningful, the constant regime change in the PCB isn’t helping the cause either.
After the first-round exit in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, Pakistan suffered a humiliating 10-wicket defeat at the hands of Bangladesh in the recently-concluded Rawalpindi Test.
Amid the debacles, fans and several former cricketers have slammed the PCB for not cleaning up the mess after the team's dismal show in the T20 World Cup two months ago.
Responding to the criticism, Naqvi said the board was trying to create a strong pool of players via the Champions Cup which could potentially replace the out-of-form stars in the national side.
"The problem is the selection committee has no pool to turn to from which to select players," the PCB chairman told reporters.
"I spoke of surgery because we need to fix our problems. But when we look at how to resolve them, we don't have any solid data or player pool which we can draw from. The whole system was a mess. The Champions Cup will produce great talent, and we'll have records for the games that happen. For surgery, you need all the tools to perform it," he added.
Naqvi also made a bizarre statement in the presser, claiming that domestic players in Pakistan did not have any data to their name, which caused difficulties in the selection policy.
"We had a lot of players for which we didn't have records. This Cup will make domestic cricket strong, we'll have a pool of 150 players, and then the surgery we need to be done, the selection committee will do. People said 'do it all today, slit the throats of four-five players, and get rid of them'. You can't dump someone unless you have a better one to replace them," he said.
The PCB boss further added that the they had utilized AI to prepare the squads for the Champions Cup.
"These 150 players that have been selected, 80% of it has been done by AI (Artificial intelligence), and 20% using humans. Nobody can challenge that. We gave about 20% weightage to our selection committee. If we replace a player with a worse one, you'll be the first to complain. We'll have records and we'll all be able to see transparently who deserves a place in the team," Naqvi said.
"The Champions Cup will end in September, and then there will be records for everyone. Anyone who isn't performing will be immediately replaced. It shouldn't come down to anyone's individual opinions and wishes," he concluded.
Earlier, the PCB named five of its top cricketers as the mentors of teams in the Champions Cup, including Misbah-ul-Haq, Saqlain Mushtaq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik and Waqar Younis.
