Lack of educated players hurting Pakistan cricket: PCB chairman

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shaharyar Khan said the lack of educated players in the national team was one of the reasons for its recent poor performance while claiming that Misbah-ul-Haq is the only graduate in the current Pakistan Squad.

"There is no graduate player in the team right now except for Misbah and the absence of educated players in the team is a primary reason for its recent downfall," PCB boss said, reports India Today.

"In future we will do our best to induct and encourage educated players into the team and also groom the existing lot of talent," Shaharyar Khan added.

According to the aforementioned report, the PCB chief also admitted that the Board had decided to make no compromises now on disciplinary issues.

"Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal have not been selected because of disciplinary issues and we want to make it clear in future we are not going to compromise on discipline or fitness," he said.

"That is why we have had fresh fitness tests and now the boot camp under supervision of military trainers in Kakul before the team leaves for England," Shaharyar Khan further stated.

The PCB chief also admitted that Pakistan need to pay more attention to its under-19 cricket and recently there were debatable selections in the squad for the World Youth Cup in Bangladesh.

In recent times, Pakistan have found success hard to come by, especially in the T20 arena. Starting from a 3-0 whitewash against England in the United Arab Emirates to a no-show in the recently concluded ICC World Twenty20, it has been a catastrophic year for the team.

Adding to their woes, Pakistan were thrashed twice in two weeks by their arch rivals India. Both in Asia Cup and World T20 it was the in-form Virat Kohli who brought Pakistan down to its knees, reports India Today.