PCB issues Fakhar Zaman show-cause notice after post in support of Babar Azam

Babar Azam's dropping from the Pakistan squad has seen Fakhar Zaman entangled in a dispute with the PCB, with the cricket board issuing him a show-cause notice for a social media post. After news of Babar's omission from Pakistan's squad for the second and third Test broke, Fakhar took to X (formerly Twitter) before the PCB had officially announced the squad.

He described the development as "concerning" saying "sidelining arguably the best batter Pakistan has ever produced" risked sending a "deeply negative message across the board". He called on the PCB to "safeguard" players rather than "undermining them".

The PCB has taken strong exception to the post, telling ESPNcricinfo the batter had been issued a show-cause notice for bringing the game in Pakistan into disrepute. They have alleged that as a centrally contracted player, Fakhar had a responsibility not to make such comments against his employer in public. They are understood to be disappointed Fakhar did not raise any complaints privately.

ESPNcricinfo understands Fakhar has not responded to the notice, which was only issued yesterday. The penalty for the alleged code of conduct breach will depend on the response, and whether he accepts the charge. As of now, there has been no further comment from Fakhar, and the post remains up on X.

The PCB has described Babar's departure from the squad for the remainder of the series as a rest ahead of white-ball series in Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. In context, though, that becomes trickier to justify given the importance of this series - which Pakistan are 1-0 down in, and the fact that Babar did not ask for a rest, and was willing to play the ongoing Test. He has been out of form in Test cricket for the best part of two years, having failed to score a half-century in the last 18 innings.