Aleem Dar has resigned from Pakistan’s national selection committee, becoming the first major casualty of the team’s early exit from the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The former elite ICC umpire, who joined the selection panel in October 2024, submitted his resignation to the Pakistan Cricket Board following Pakistan’s failure to qualify for the semi-finals. The PCB is yet to formally accept it.
Dar’s departure was not simply a reaction to a poor tournament result. It was the endpoint of a series of internal disagreements that had been building for months, centred on who actually had the final say in selection decisions.
The Dispute at the Centre of It All
According to sources close to Dar, the core issue was the authority exercised by head coach Mike Hesson in squad selection. Dar had reportedly pushed back against the inclusion of senior players Babar Azam and Shadab Khan in the World Cup squad, arguing that neither had done enough in recent cricket to justify their places on current form alone.
His position found no support. Hesson insisted on including both players, and the rest of the panel — fellow selectors Aaqib Javed and Asad Shafiq, along with captain Salman Agha — did not challenge the coach’s stance. Dar was left isolated.
The dispute did not end there. Dar had also argued that if Babar and Shadab were being selected on reputation rather than recent performance, the same logic should have applied to Mohammad Rizwan. He pushed for Rizwan’s inclusion in the squad over Usman Khan, citing Rizwan’s experience at the highest level. Again, no one backed him.
Sources describe a selection environment where Aaqib Javed largely aligned with Hesson’s views and Asad Shafiq remained largely passive, which left little room for genuine debate. Dar, who had come into the role with a reputation for directness and strong opinions, found the dynamic difficult to work within. After the World Cup ended the way it did, he decided there was no reason to stay.
SUGGESTED READ: Why 4 Pakistani-Born USA Cricketers Had Visas Denied for T20 World Cup 2026? Explained
Pakistan’s World Cup Campaign
Pakistan’s tournament was a study in inconsistency. In the group stage, they won two and lost two — the most damaging of those defeats coming against India in Colombo, a result that reportedly left PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi visibly frustrated. They beat Namibia in a must-win match to stay alive and scraped into the Super 8 stage.
The second round was worse. Pakistan lost two of their three Super 8 matches, falling to both New Zealand and England. Their only win came against Sri Lanka in their final group game, but by then the damage was already done. They finished outside the semi-final positions, ending a campaign that had promised more than it delivered at almost every stage.
The Super 8 game against New Zealand was washed out without a ball bowled, which handed both sides a point each but did Pakistan no real favours given the results that followed.
PCB Fines the Squad
The fallout from the World Cup has not been limited to the selection panel. The PCB imposed a financial penalty on the entire squad following the exit, with each player fined PKR 5 million — roughly Rs 16 lakh. The decision was reportedly driven by Naqvi and is understood to have been informally agreed upon during the group stage, after Pakistan’s defeat to India.
The move has drawn criticism from within the game. Former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir was among those who publicly questioned the fines, arguing that the players were not solely responsible for the team’s underperformance and that punishing them financially was not the right way to address deeper structural problems.
The fines signal a harder line from the PCB on accountability, but whether they address the underlying issues — selection processes, coaching authority, squad balance — remains to be seen.
What Dar’s Exit Leaves Behind
Dar’s resignation leaves the selection committee with Aaqib Javed, Asad Shafiq, and data analyst Usman Hashmi. It is a significantly weakened group, and the PCB now faces the task of finding a replacement while simultaneously dealing with the broader fallout of a disappointing campaign.
His tenure lasted less than 18 months. He came in as part of a revamped panel, bringing credibility and experience from more than two decades at the highest level of the game as an ICC Elite Panel umpire. The circumstances of his exit, a quiet resignation born of feeling consistently outvoted and sidelined, reflect a selection structure that apparently gave the head coach more influence than any of the officially appointed selectors.
That dynamic is not entirely new in Pakistan cricket. Previous coaches had complained of the opposite problem — being given too little say in the squad. Under Hesson, the balance appears to have swung too far in the other direction, at least in Dar’s view. The fact that no one else on the panel publicly pushed back during the process, or has spoken out since, suggests either broad agreement with how things were handled or a reluctance to invite scrutiny.
The Bigger Picture
Pakistan’s failure to reach the semi-finals of a home World Cup — the tournament is being co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka — was always going to prompt difficult questions. The team lost to India and England, the two sides who will meet in the second semi-final, and couldn’t find the consistency needed across the group and Super 8 stages.
Dar’s resignation is the first formal consequence of that failure. It is unlikely to be the last. The PCB faces calls for a wider governance review, and with the selection committee now operating with two members and an analyst, decisions about the squad’s direction ahead of the next cycle will need to be made quickly.
Whether Hesson’s position comes under scrutiny in the weeks ahead is the more significant question. The selection dispute that drove Dar out points to a head coach operating with near-unilateral authority over squad decisions. If that was the arrangement, it is one the PCB will need to either formally endorse or revisit — because leaving it undefined is what created the conditions for this resignation in the first place.
For comprehensive cricket updates and sports stories, follow Jeetwin Sports.
