Mohsin Naqvi invokes India's loss to Ireland to defend Pakistan cricket amid backlash

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohsin Naqvi has pushed back against widespread criticism of Pakistan cricket by pointing to unexpected defeats suffered by other top nations, including India's T20I series loss to Ireland in June 2026.

India lost both matches of that two-game series at Belfast, going down by 34 runs on June 26 and by 1 run on June 28, surrendering the series 2-0. Naqvi used this result, alongside South Africa's defeat to Namibia, to argue that upsets are a feature of modern cricket and not a sign of systemic failure in Pakistan.

"Let me ask you one thing: South Africa lost to Namibia, and India lost to Ireland. Has cricket ended there as well? Yes, one thing is important: whoever we need here, we will definitely bring in. If someone is not clicking or not performing, then what can we do? Every match and every series is important for us," Naqvi said, as quoted by the Hindustan Times.

Why did Pakistan press the panic button during the England tour?

Pakistan's cricket board took sweeping action during the team's tour of England, sending seven players home midway through the series and removing coaching staff, including former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul. The moves triggered an unprecedented wave of public and media criticism directed at the PCB and its leadership. Naqvi acknowledged the Test match results were disappointing but maintained that the decisions taken were justified. He also defended his current role by pointing to the position and status of Pakistan cricket across formats since his takeover.

"Yes, absolutely, what happened in the Test match cannot be termed wrong. We have lost these two matches, but I believe that, God willing, we will make progress in the coming days, just as we did in ODIs and T20Is. I have never been afraid of criticism, and I never will be. Those who say cricket has been destroyed since I came - look at what the rankings were before we brought our coaching team. We were eighth in ODIs and now we're fifth, in T20Is we jumped to sixth position from ninth," he said.

What did Naqvi say about Salman Agha's current form?

Among the players whose positions came under scrutiny, Salman Agha's recent form was a particular talking point. Naqvi confirmed that the board had spoken to Agha and taken steps to support him rather than simply dropping him from the squad. Naqvi was clear that the board's approach is centred on performance rather than punishment.

"Agha is such a brilliant player, and yet he is not clicking at the moment for certain reasons. We are not telling him, ‘We asked you to go and rest’; we spoke to him and did everything. So, the objective is not to remove someone from the team. The objective is that if a player is not clicking, then we should make a change," he concluded.