Mohsin Naqvi invokes India's loss to Ireland to defend Pakistan cricket amid backlash

By MagnetGuy

**Naqvi fires back: Upsets are the new normal, not proof of Pakistan's collapse** PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi is not taking the media heat quietly. Facing a storm of criticism after the England tour, his counter-argument is essentially a market-correction play: point to the bigger upsets. India folded 2-0 to Ireland in Belfast back in June 2026 (down 34 and 1 run), and South Africa tasted defeat against Namibia. Naqvi's thesis is simple — volatility is baked into modern cricket, so a few bad results don't signal systemic rot. **The England fiasco that sparked this mess** Let's recap the numbers that triggered the backlash. Pakistan sent seven players home mid-series and gutted the coaching setup — dumping ex-captain Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul in one sweeping move. That's an unprecedented shake-up, and it drew fire at the board's leadership. Naqvi won't deny the Test results were poor (lost both), but he frames the decision as justified risk-management rather than panic. **His performance metrics speak louder** Here's where his data-driven defense lands. On his watch, India's ODI ranking climbed from 8th to 5th, and their T20I rank jumped from 9th to 6th. His pitch: check the baseline before his coaching team arrived. Criticism of "cricket destroyed under me" doesn't hold up against the ranking trajectory. He's essentially arguing the fundamentals improved even if the recent match results looked ugly. **Salman Agha — support, not exile** On the hot potato of Salman Agha's dip in form, Naqvi drew a clear line. The board talked to the all-rounder and backed him rather than axing him outright. "He's a brilliant player, just not clicking right now," per Naqvi. The objective is performance optimization, not punishment — if someone's off the tempo, the fix is a change, not a cut. Net take: Naqvi's playing the long game, anchoring his case in rankings data and process over reactive match results. Whether that holds depends on whether those ODIs and T20Is keep climbing. Source: Crictracker