Illogical team selection

LAHORE: The chief selector of the Pakistan cricket team has been quoted as saying that players included in the national Twenty20 squad for the upcoming World Cup, including Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir and Kamran Akmal, have been selected on the basis of their experience. If that is the case then why was a relatively unknown like Raza Hassan selected over the experienced Abdur Rehman?

The chief selector further said that Asad Shafiq was selected on the basis of his performances in the recent Sri Lankan Test series. However, he should know that it is going to be a Twenty20 World Cup event and if there is no difference between Tests and Twenty20s, then why have separate teams in the first place? Furthermore, if  Test performances are to be considered, then why is Mohammad Sami in the squad while Junaid Khan, who excelled, was left out. Going back to Razzaq’s selection, Azhar Mahmood has been a consistent performer as an all-rounder in both the BPL and the IPL but he wasn’t selected.

In addition, why has Shoaib Malik, who is a spent cartridge, been included in the team? Similarly, most people who follow the game are agreed on the fact that Adnan Akmal is a better wicket-keeper than his brother Kamran, so why drop the former, especially since he proved to be a handy batsman in the Sri Lanka series. Another question that must be answered — probably by the Pakistan Cricket Board — is that what was the great hurry in selecting the team when the deadline for the selection is almost four weeks away.

Syed Nayyar Uddin Ahmad

Published in The Express Tribune, July 22^nd, 2012.