'They demoralised a young player' - Moin Khan accuses Ramiz Raja for his son's confidence going for toss

Azam Khan, former Pakistani wicketkeeper-batter Moin Khan's son, has not only faced flak for his cricketing performances but he has been subjected to extreme phases of ridicule from supporters as well as ex-cricketers for his fitness.

In a recent discussion, Moin discussed the abrupt exclusion of his son after just one game against co-hosts of the T20 World Cup 2024, the USA, alluding that it was unwarranted for.  

“I watched the entire World Cup and the matches leading up to it, and it seemed like Azam was the number one choice for wicket-keeping and batting. Then suddenly, after just one match, the entire strategy was changed,” stated Moin, as quoted by The Indian Express.

Moin also questioned the rationale behind the hire-and-fire policy adopted by the Pakistan Cricket Board, be it at any level of the hierarchy.

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“Azam wasn’t given a chance to keep wickets after one match and was dropped after getting out on the very first ball (against the USA). Any player can get out on the first ball, but here, the tradition of developing players that used to exist is no longer there. Whether it’s the captain or the management, if they make such quick changes to players, how can we produce good players?” Moin rhetorically asked.

Moin represented Pakistan in 288 internationals, and also put part of the blame on the chairperson then, Ramiz Raja, for discouraging his son. 

“At that time, if the chief selector had made a wrong selection, he should have been removed, but they didn’t have the courage, and as a result, they demoralised a young player," mentioned Moin.

Azam has his own shortcomings too: Moin

Moin further went on to admit that his 26-year-old son had quite a few aspects to improve upon himself and that he has been working hard with his trainer to achieve his objectives in the recent past.

“I’m not saying that all the blame lies with the team management and the captain; Azam has his own shortcomings too. He needs to make himself physically and mentally stronger, and follow the fitness routines of other sportspersons. For the past month or so, I’ve noticed he’s been working hard to improve his fitness with his trainer Shehzar Mohammad, even taking him along to the Caribbean League. I hope Azam has learned a lot from this experience,” added Moin.

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Despite working hard on his fitness in the West Indies, Azam has found it hard to get going for the Guyana Amazon Warriors. Even with the team winning all three of their games to get their CPL 2024 campaign off to a flyer, Azam's score read 9, 2, and 0, with him not being able to put together anything substantial during his time at the crease for the time being.

While Moin's career spanned 14 long years, with the way things have been going for Azam, circumstances look bleak for Azam to make himself a regular in even one of the three setups of the national team, unless he turns the tide in his favour by putting forward a set of noteworthy outings in the future.