Since the team was announced last week the selectors have been barraged with criticism for dropping senior players.
Three uncapped players have been included in the team, namely: Rameez Raja, Shah and Cheema; while experienced players such as Umar Gul, Tanveer Ahmed and Wahab Riaz are being dropped.
On the other hand less experienced players Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema and Junaid Khan have also been given a chance.
What a perfect recipe for a controversy! As if we haven’t had our fair share!
On top of this Mr. “Hit the Big Shot” Abdul Razzaq let loose his tongue by saying,
“… Axing of senior players is not in the interest of Pakistan cricket” and that “It’s a conspiracy against the senior players,” and added that “There’s a lobby which is misguiding the chairman who is working sincerely for the promotion of the game. They just want to secure their position in the board and their agenda is against the interest of Pakistan cricket.”
Umm…boss you have every right to express your opinion but don’t you think claiming that the PCB chairman is “working sincerely for the promotion of the game” is going a tad toooooo far? Sounds as if you want to get into his good books and then back in to the team.
I personally don’t agree with Mr. Abdul Razzaq. If on the one hand you are talking about grooming a new captain and a new look team for the TwentyFifteen cup then this is the time to start. And what’s wrong with inducting some young players? After all, the tour is to Zimbabwe not Australia.
And plus, can’t you see Misbah is still there, Younis Khan has been called back, Umar Akmal is playing and the youngsters that have been chosen have shown good potential in our domestic circuit?
If you don’t give them a chance against a team like Zimbabwe then who are they going to play against? Australia later this year? If they get clobbered then again the selectors will be to blame.
Misbah and Younis will soon retire and we need people to fill their place. Plus we need to find a good opening pair, which we are lacking since Amir and Anwer; so this, in my opinion, is the perfect time to start doing it.
Replying to Abdul Razzaq’s comment, our chief selector Mohsin Khan said “It’s the job of the selection committee to finalize the team. I don’t know about any lobby and I don’t feel there is any agenda against the senior players.”
I for one believe him this time around.
How can you say that Tanvir Ahmed is experienced but Sohail Tanvir is not ? [ In International cricket Sohail is way more experienced]
And if domestic cricket is the criteria then you can’t regard Aizaz Cheema as inexperienced as he has been playing domestic cricket for like 12/13 years now.
And about giving youngsters a chance and building a team for the future, fair enough you should give youngsters a chance but how can the selectors justify the inclusion of a 32 year old fast bowler [Cheema] in the squad if they have the 2015 WC in mind.
And by dropping Hammad Azam and Sadaf Hussain [ Selected for WI tour not given a chance now dropped] they have shown that their is no consistency in selection. And I don’t think Mohsin Khan has any say in selection process he just announced the team selected by Mr. Butt.
Oh and last but not least Imran Farhat in the team again ? *Facepalm*