Greenshirts captain Mohammad Imran has termed the Europe tour, where Pakistan will face the top teams of the world, as a litmus test for his side. The national team departed from Islamabad yesterday as the month-long tour kicks off with a four-nation tournament on June 20 in Dublin.
Imran, who led the side to the final of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup earlier, said the tour will help in exposing the team's progress ahead of next year's London Olympics. Pakistan, after the first event, will take part in the Rabo Bank tournament in Amsterdam, another four-nation affair from June 28 and will also play Test matches against New Zealand, Belgium and Netherlands besides holding a training camp before the team returns on July 17.
Imran, who replaced Zeeshan Ashraf as captain, said it was a perfect opportunity for the side to test their strength and work on their weaknesses.
"The tour is a litmus test," Imran told The Express Tribune prior to the team's departure. "We will face teams who are ranked higher than us and that will expose our weaknesses.
"After the tour we will have ample time to work on our flaws before the Olympics."
The seasoned defender said the tour will also help the bunch of junior players in getting valuable experience.
'Perfect preparation before Champions Trophy'
Meanwhile, team manager Khwaja Junaid said he was confident of his team's performance in the upcoming tournaments.
"The team has prepared very well for the upcoming tournaments," said the Olympian. "The players have worked hard and I'm confident they will perform well."
Junaid added that the tour will shape the team well ahead of the Champions Trophy that will be held in December.
"The tour will help fine tune the team before the Champions Trophy. And since we have a few young players it will be a valuable lesson for them too.
"The London Olympics is our main target and achieving good results will give us a lot of confidence."
'Monitoring every player's performance'
On the inclusion of senior players for the Europe tour, the manager said they were selected on basis of their good performance.
"They showed good form and fitness in the previous events," said Junaid before refusing to confirm them as a certain choice for the London Olympics.
"Performance of all the players – junior or senior – is being closely monitored. The best available players will be selected for the Olympics," said Junaid.
The selectors retained senior players including Sohail Abbas, Rehan Butt, Wasim Ahmed and Shakeel Abbasi for the Europe tour after critics had labelled them past their prime and said that it was time to inject young blood in the team.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 17th, 2011.
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