PCB chairman clears the air regarding Fawad Alam’s exclusion

Middle-order batsman was recently omitted from list of centrally contracted players

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan said that he was disappointed about middle-order batsman Fawad Alam’s omission from the list of centrally contracted players released last month.

Speaking to Daily Express, the 82-year-old said that if he was a member of the national selection committee, then he wouldn’t have excluded the batsman from the list.

“If it was up to me, Fawad would still be among our centrally contracted players,” he said. “I think it was unfair to exclude him. And now, with him getting older, it would be tougher for him to make a comeback to the national side.”



Other notable exclusions from the list includes that of former T20I captain Shahid Afridi, off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, fast-bowler Junaid Khan and middle-order batsmen Sohaib Maqsood and Umar Amin.

However, Shaharyar clarified that the 31-year-old’s marginalisation is not due to any fault of his own, rather due to the recent crop of players available to the board.



“Even though a player of Fawad’s calibre is more suitable in Tests instead of ODIs and T20Is, but, fortunately for us, there are many good players available in the format,” he said.

The board chairman cited the examples of middle-order batsman Babar Azam and top-order batsmen Sharjeel Khan and Fakhar Zaman, who exhibited great performances recently. Nevertheless, he hoped that Fawad would continue with his decent form in the domestic circuit to make a comeback.