PCB to meet Misbah-ul-Haq, Azhar Ali over complaints to PM Imran Khan: report

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) top brass will summon head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and Test captain Azhar Ali next week for getting round cricketing authorities and directly approaching Prime Minister Imran Khan to complain about the new domestic cricket structure.

Misbah, Azhar and Mohammad Hafeez met the prime minister on Wednesday in a bid to convince him that departmental cricket should be reinstated – much to the chagrin of PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani and CEO Wasim Khan, who were kept completely out of the loop and only attended the meeting upon receiving a last-minute invitation by the PM’s office.

Reportedly left red-faced at the meeting, Mani and Wasim, “are unhappy and disappointed”, have now summoned the trio.

“It was a weird situation for Chairman Ehsan Mani and he did not like it,” the source said.

In the upcoming meeting, the PCB officials are expected to convey to Misbah and company regarding their reservations about their maneuver to bypass them and contact the board’s patron-in-chief themselves.

The source also said that a decision regarding any disciplinary action or show cause notices against Misbah-led delegation has yet to be taken.