Pakistan Cricket Board must be working overtime to retaliate against the allegations laid upon it of late. Although the Board has a love affair with mismanagement, especially when it comes to players’ injuries, these controversies, one after another, are shocking even by the Board’s standards. While conversing with a Pakistani YouTuber on his channel, Usman Qadir joined the list of players who have publicly claimed to have been wronged by the medical team of Pakistan cricket’s governing body.
The leg-spinner fractured his thumb during Pakistan’s home tour of England back in 2022 as a build-up to the World Cup. This incident occurred during the 4th T20I match of the series while he was taking Alex Hales’ catch. Qadir’s accusations against PCB for mishandling his thumb injury have forced the fans to heave sighs of disappointment since this mismanagement is not an isolated case.
Talking about his controversial Tweet
The leg-spinner was initially said to be in the plans for the 2022 T20 World Cup but eventually missed out not only on that mega-event but being a part of the national team altogether in the format. Just recently, after not being named as a part of Pakistan’s England-bound squad for the tour, Usman tweeted his disapproval at the ‘injustice’ in the Pakistan cricket world. When asked about the same tweet by the aforementioned YouTuber, the Lahore-born said:
“I didn’t have any intention to tweet this, but unfortunately, when you see so much injustice like this, you start to feel like everyone’s playing hide and seek. It seems like everyone’s protecting someone. There’s been no performance in the last five years. I wrote about injustice because a person who was the leading wicket-taker in the PSL was ousted from the World Cup squad, while someone with less than 50 matches in their career was included.”
Bowling after recovering from the Injury:
Talking about it further, Usman Qadir, the son of legendary spinner Abdul Qadir, said that he was not allowed to bowl even when his injury seemed to have recovered. While he was in travelling reserves for the Tri-series, according to the leggie, many people accused him of travelling with the team for fun despite being injured.
“When we were playing England before the 2022 World Cup, I fractured my thumb. This is very interesting… I fractured my thumb: after playing seven T20Is (against England), we went to New Zealand. People said, ‘Your thumb was broken, you’re only travelling around for fun.”
He further said,
“Did I ask to be picked in the squad? They assured me I needed two weeks to rest and recover. Dr Naj [Najeeb Soomro, PCB’s then chief medical officer] from Australia — I told him, ‘There’s no swelling on my thumb anymore, it’s not blue, and it’s moving easily, I am able to grip the ball and bowl properly. He said, ‘Let’s see.” I went to the nets the next day and bowled. Saqlain (Mushtaq) Bhai said, ‘What are you doing? You can’t bowl before the 14th day.”
Qadir’s accusations against PCB backed by evidence
Adding further details to these incidents, Qadir said that it seemed like he was being kept away from the team deliberately. He even went on to say that his injury had not been that serious, as confirmed by the PCB Doctor as well. The tweaker even claims to have screenshots of the mentioned correspondence.
“In the tri-nation final against New Zealand, I asked them for fitness clearance. They said we will let you know after the final. We won the series. The team was announced later, and I was out of the World Cup. I had been picked before, but now I was out. I was still fine, I’d be in reserves. I requested them to go back to Pakistan – ‘I’m anyway a reserve. I can at least play first-class.’ They refused.
He said that despite the team playing cricket consistently after losing the mega-event final, he was not picked to play any series.
“After the WC, there was a big period – Test series, ODIs, no T20Is. There was PSL, and then the NZ series. After the PSL, I wasn’t picked, and the doctor messaged me. He said, ‘You are a good bowler, I know you would make a comeback.’ I messaged him, ‘I kept insisting you I’m fit, let me play. You didn’t listen to me. This has all happened because of you.’
“He said, ‘Yes, I agree, you were fine in the World Cup.’
“Who should I tell that they did this to me? I have proof and screenshots, and all evidence. How do I explain that one person has done this to my career? He was the kind of doctor who wouldn’t know which medicine to take for fever.
What happens next?
Since his sideline from the team in the England series in 2022, Usman has only played two T20 Internationals as a part of Pakistan’s team for the Asian Games in 2023. As of now, Pakistan is banking on rookie spinner, Abrar Ahmed to be their main man in the World Cup in the Caribbean this year. Keeping that in context, Usman’s return is very unlikely. However, if his allegations of injury mismanagement are true, the Pakistan Cricket Board would have a lot of questions to answer. Especially, with the Ihsanullah injury fiasco that has had the PCB CMO resign from the position, the Pakistan cricket governing body cannot afford to have another similar case drown them further into adversity.
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