Junaid Khan accuses team management of unfair treatment

When Pakistani fast bowler Junaid Khan shared a picture with tape on his mouth after his axing from Pakistan’s squad ahead of the World Cup, it was evident all is not well in the Pakistani camp and that something had been cooking. However, it seems it was not entirely the selectors Junaid took a dig at.

Junaid was infamously dropped from Pakistan’s WC squad at the last minute, along with all-rounder Faheem Ashraf and opener Abid Ali to make way for left-arm seamers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir, and big-hitting middle-order batsman Asif Ali.

Junaid has now opened up about the incident, accusing the team management of unfair treatment. He said he was highly disappointed that despite picking up many crucial wickets and winning countless games for the country he was dropped. He is also angry with the Pakistan Cricket Board for not contacting him.

Junaid admitted he went too far with his social media post which read, “I don’t want to say anything. Truth is bitter.” He said it was more due to his Pakhtoon background but if one could put himself in Junaid’s place, he would understand the problem Junaid is facing.

Will never do anything against the country

Junaid said he deleted the post after his fans and followers contacted him saying it would bring a bad name to Pakistan. He said he also had several offers from England to play full-time cricket for them but as a Pakistani, he would never do something which is against his country. “I always put Pakistan way ahead of my personal ambitions,” Junaid further said as quoted by Nation.

Junaid is hopeful that with the arrival of PCB managing director Wasim Khan and new management he will get justice and more opportunities to represent Pakistan again. He is optimistic Wasim will live up to his commitments and provide justice to the ignored players who have served Pakistan cricket for years.

Junaid also boasted about his past performances. He said that he was the sixth-fastest to take 100 wickets in ODIs despite playing the majority of the games on the slow wickets in UAE, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. He said that had he played on bouncy tracks in Australia, South Africa or England, he could have taken more wickets.

~ Written by Mohit Raj