Inzamamul Haq on Wednesday aired his grievances against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) days after resigning as the chief selector of the Pakistan men’s cricket team.

Haq had resigned as chief selector last week after media reports claimed he had a stake in a player’s management company registered with the PCB. The reports said several top players, including Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, were associated with the company. The reports subsequently raised questions regarding the team selection process.

Commenting on the situation during an interview on Geo News show Capital Talk, Haq said he had tendered his resignation not due to the team’s less than satisfactory performance in the World Cup but after the PCB formed an inquiry committee to probe the allegations against him.

“I think that if you had to investigate me or make an inquiry committee then you could have done so after the World Cup. I was still going to be here.”

He said that ever since the 1992 World Cup, “non-cricketers” blamed the players and absolved themselves of any culpability whenever the team’s performance was not up to par.

He also took issue with PCB chief Zaka Ashraf first being appointed for a period of four months before being given an extension of another three.

“What development work will you accomplish in four or three months? What actually happens is that when you’re taking extensions of three to four months, you try to shift your things onto others.

“I’m not saying it is his (Ashraf) fault but a person tries to save themselves” and shift responsibility for his mistakes onto others, he said.

Haq said he was ready to take responsibility if the team played poorly but not for deflecting blame.

“If the team is playing poorly then it is our team and we have to support and take it forward. We never try to save face and escape blame because when we [start saying] ‘this is not my fault, this is someone else’s fault’ then even the hope remaining gets shattered.”

During the interview, a clip was also played of Ashraf’s interview with ARY News wherein he said that there appeared to be a “conflict of interest” when it came to reports about team selection.

“He (Ashraf) has again tried to save himself,” Haq said. He said that Saya Corporation, one of the agencies embroiled in the recent controversy, was representing him.

“They are recommended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the board has the whole record,” he said. He further said that Yazoo International Ltd, a second company involved in the controversy, was formed during Covid but added that there were never any transactions.

He said this company was also officially registered and not some “secret” that was uncovered.

Haq said he had also played a crucial role in resolving the dispute over the squad’s central contracts the night before the team left for the World Cup, adding that it was a matter which had been pending for a while.

“You should have given me credit, for an issue that was not being resolved for three to four months, I sat everyone down and resolved it and later you are accusing me?”

Haq said that instead of going and giving the interview to “save himself”, Ashraf should have called him up and asked him to clarify the reports.

“You did not ask me nor did you ask Talha Rehmani,” he said. Haq also alleged that he was being stonewalled about the progress and proceedings of the inquiry against him.

He said that he was informed about the PCB’s refusal to accept his resignation from television reports. “The board did not tell me. I got to know this through the TV,” he said, adding that there was no communication from that side.

He said that he was given his selection team only 10 days ago after Pakistan had played several matches in the World Cup. “Otherwise the other selection team was working, which included Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn and others.”

He also said he was undermined as the chief selector by Ashraf in the wake of Pakistan’s Asia Cup defeat.

“When Pakistan was defeated in the Asia Cup, a statement came from the chairman that he would call all of Pakistan’s [previous] captains for [team] selection.

“I had great concern about this, that you’ve made me chief selector on August 7 and announced the team on the eighth then I don’t have a magic wand that I will give a name and they’ll come and begin delivering on their performance. So I did not go in that meeting … because I thought it was not right that you’re not respecting someone.”

He alleged that it was an attempt by Ashraf to avoid blame with the excuse that he selected the team with the input of all past captains.

“Have you ever heard of selection like this anywhere in the world? So don’t try to save yourself,” he advised the PCB chief. Haq lamented that it was “very painful for me when someone comes for three or four months and lectures me about my character.”

Questioned if he would assume his former position again, Haq all but confirmed that he would not. The former chief selector complained about the prevalence of negativity instead of positivity in the PCB’s affairs.

Reports about conflict of interest

Following Pakistan’s defeat to South Africa in the World Cup, reports began emanating that Haq was one of four directors at Yazoo International Ltd, a company registered in the United Kingdom, which set off alarm bells.

Rizwan is also named as one of the directors, but the tipping point came with the name of Rehmani, the managing director of Saya Corporation, which claims on its company website to represent “70 per cent of the Pakistan National Team including the top-ranked athletes” like Babar Azam, Rizwan and pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi.

That Haq’s brother Inti­sa­rul Haq is the company secretary and has close ties in the player agency — with favouritism being alleged in the team’s selection from various quarters — prompted Ashraf to pledge during a television programme that an inquiry would be conducted into those allegations.

Following Haq’s resignation, the PCB said it had set up a five-member fact-finding committee to “investigate allegations in respect of conflict of interest reported in the media pertaining to the team selection process”.

“The committee will submit its report and any recommendations to the PCB Management in an expeditious manner,” it concluded, without giving the names of members of the committee.

Haq assumed the role of chief selector on August 7, marking his second stint in this position. He had previously held the same role in 2016 but left it at the conclusion of his term in 2019, after serving for three years.

The resignation had coincided with severe criticism of the national team due to its subpar performance in the World Cup, having suffered four consecutive losses against India, Australia, Afghanistan, and South Africa after victories in the first two games against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka.