Pakistan Team's 15 member squad for the ODI and T20 series against South Africa in the UAE has been announced.
Somehow, the selectors have seen sense and dropped Umer Amin and Azhar Ali from the ODI squad. Azhar deserves a chance in the Test series though, especially if the pitches are good for battting. He's had a rough time in his early days, playing in England against good seamers, so he should get a chance to play in the tests against South Africa.
The bittersweet news is the exclusion of Kamran Akmal, replaced by Zulqarnain Haider due to Akmal's appendicitus operation. Akmal's batting will be sorely missed, his keeping probably not.. Haider should stay for the tests if he keeps well. No need for a keeper who can bat if he can't keep.
Tanveer Ahmed gets a chance, lets see if he gets to play. Asad Shafiq retains his place and rightly so. Except for the last two ODIs against England, he looked good in the series.
Intikhab Alam makes a comeback, this time as the manager. I guess Ejaz Butt can't sleep without the knowledge that the team has a 70 year old Baba Ji with them. Shaid dua'ain kerne k kam aatay hain.
I would've liked to see Rana Naveed or Rao Iftikhar in the squad, both are good bowlers in limited overs cricket, especially in sub-continental conditions. In Amer and Asif's absence they could have been included.
The captain hasn't been announced yet, can't see why. If Afridi is in the squad, he's got to be the captain. Perhaps, Prince Butt is mad again !
Pakistan squad: Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Shoaib Akhtar, Tanveer Ahmed, Zulqarnain Haider (wk).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Give your feedback!