Inzamam laments lack of off-spinners and all-rounders

Chief selector rues lack of variety due to absence of foreign tours in last six, seven years

Pakistan national team chief selector Inzamamul Haq believes the team lacks services of quality off-spinners and all-rounders at the moment.

“We don’t have a proper off-spinner at the moment that is the reason I brought in Iftikhar Ahmed,” said Inzamam while speaking at a talk show on Express News. “Also, we have no specialist all-rounder. I am in search for both right now.”

The 46-year-old added he believes in giving proper chances to all the new players.

“My plan is to give proper chances to all players,” the 46-year-old said. “I don’t want to take a player to England and then drop him for the UAE series because he couldn’t deliver in tough conditions.”

Inzamam said even if this team doesn’t deliver results, their quality of cricket will improve. “We have played so much in UAE that our cricketers have lost their variety. Even if we don’t achieve the desired results in the upcoming series, everyone will see that the quality of our cricket rise,” he said.

He added, “We haven’t played too many away series in the past six to seven years. I believe in our players’ ability to deliver once they start playing regularly on foreign pitches.”

While commenting on his role as the chief selector, former Afghanistan national cricket team coach said: “It is a difficult job. I cannot select all the domestic performers; all might be bowlers or batsmen, then there is captain’s, coach’s and selection committee’s opinion too. That makes some players unhappy. I try to select players who I think will help the team.”

The former captain is also of the view that there should be one captain for all formats.

“It is good to have only one captain for all three formats,” he said. “For example, T20 captain Sarfraz Ahmed will only lead the side in six matches in the next 14 months. The more he captains his side, the more he will learn about the experience but that will not be the case for him. If there is only captain he can learn a lot of things quickly.”

Inzamam also commented on Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad saying that they are young and still have their careers ahead of them.