PCB Is A Circus, The People Are Jokers...: Ex-Pakistan Cricketer's No-Nonsense Rant Goes Viral - Watch

Pakistan's embarrassing defeat to Bangladesh in a two-match Test series has seen the country hit a record low as they lost a Test match and series to their Asian rivals for the first time in history. The defeat has put the Shan Masood-led side all but out of contention to reach the 2025 World Test Championship (WTC) final and triggered sharp reactions in the country, with star players and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) facing major criticism from fans and ex-players.Former Pakistan cricketer Yasir Arafat went on a hard-hitting rant against PCB and did not mince his words while calling out the decision-makers in the governing body. Arafat pointed out how Pakistan are set to prepare to play a Test series against England in October by playing List A cricket by playing the inaugural edition of the Champions Cup in September."This series is ending. Your grey areas have been highlighted. Fitness issues, technique issues, and pitches. Today I heard Jason Gillespie and the high-performance coach are going back to Australia. You are conducting an ODI tournament. These decisions I don't understand. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a circus."There are jokers in that, and this is a joke. You have a Test series against England coming up, and you are bringing players for ODIs. Shan Masood is saying in a press conference that our players have not played first-class cricket for 1.5 years. You have a big series against England coming up, and you are playing ODIs. This looks like a circus to me. The people who are working are jokers, and their decisions are jokes," said Arafat.Post the series defeat to Bangladesh, Pakistan skipper Masood pointed out the lack of domestic cricket players from Pakistan have played in red-ball cricket and stated that as the reason behind Pakistan's struggles in Test cricket."Bangladesh have two players who have played 70-90 Tests (Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahman), and Litton [Das] and Mehidy [Hasan Miraz] have played close to 40. We need the same level of red-ball exposure. Test cricket is the ultimate format of the game. You need experience. We need more Test and red-ball cricket."Whatever format you play is the format for which you'll produce players. You can't play more T20 cricket and get Test players. You can't prepare for science and then sit for a maths exam. If you're being tested for maths, you study maths. To play red-ball cricket, you must play red-ball cricket," the Pakistan captain went on to add," said Masood in a press conference.

Yasir Arafat "Pakistan Cricket Board is a circus, the people working there are jokers and their decisions are jokes" #Cricket pic.twitter.com/fXJymVoVKe

— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) September 6, 2024

In a record that has left the cricketing world staggered, Pakistan are winless in 10 home Test matches with their last win coming in February 2021.The Men in Green have witnessed a string of poor results over the last year as they failed to reach the semi-final of the 2023 Cricket World Cup before being knocked out of the 2024 T20 World Cup in the first round post a humiliating defeat to minnows United States of America (USA).