Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for agreeing to cancel the first T20I against West Indies on the team’s tour of the Caribbean. PCB and Cricket West Indies (CWI) had announced a revised schedule for the T20I series between the two sides after agreeing to cancel the first of five T20Is.

The five-match T20I series between the two sides was scheduled to start on July 27 but the first T20I has been called off with the series now beginning on July 28. The two teams will now play only four matches instead of five due to the West Indies-Australia ODI series getting rescheduled following a positive COVID-19 case in the hosts’ camp.

Inzamam was left shocked at PCB’s decision to agree to cancel a T20I as he felt instead the match against Australia should have been called off. He slammed the PCB over their non-refusal and said it is degrading for Pakistan cricket as these are international matches and not club games that can be cancelled easily.

“Cannot understand how the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) agreed to it or how the West Indies board put forward such a proposal. As we all know, West Indies had to reschedule the ODI series against Australia due to a COVID-19 case. But what does the series T20 series against Pakistan have to do with it? How could the PCB agree to this?” – Inzamam said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“The final T20 will be played on August 3 while the Test series begins on August 12. So there is a good nine days gap, in which a T20 could have been easily accommodated. If West Indies wanted to cancel a match, it should have happened during the series against Australia. What West Indies have done is degrading to Pakistan cricket. I am really shocked that Pakistan agreed to get degraded. You cannot do this. These are international fixtures and not club matches where you can say that I can play a match with this team but won’t play with that side,” he added.

Pakistan will play four T20Is against West Indies, who are coming off an impressive 4-1 win against Australia in their last T20I series while Pakistan lost 2-1 in their last T20I against England recently. Both teams will be looking to gain some momentum with the T20 World Cup now less than three months away