Zulqarnain rues Twenty20 snub
Lahore, Karachi, Multan overlook wicket-keeper for domestic event.
LAHORE:
Zulqarnain Haider, a star in the making for Pakistan 12 months ago, cannot even find a place in any regional team now.
Overlooked by the Lahore region for both their teams for the season-opening domestic Twenty20 event that takes place next week, Haider went looking for a place in some other region but Karachi and Multan, too, gave him a cold shoulder.
Lahore region opted to go with the Akmal brothers as their wicket-keepers while Multan, too, preferred to stick to their first-choice Gulraiz.
“It is disappointing to not be considered in either of the Lahore teams because this is my home region and if they don’t select me, who will,” complained Haider.
He had alleged on his Facebook page that the Akmal brothers were behind his ouster but the Lahore region president Khawaja Nadeem said that they have better and performing players to fill the void.
“Haider was out of cricket for the last year and in Twenty20, we require cricketers who are performing so we went for better performers,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.
Zulqarnain Haider, a star in the making for Pakistan 12 months ago, cannot even find a place in any regional team now.
Overlooked by the Lahore region for both their teams for the season-opening domestic Twenty20 event that takes place next week, Haider went looking for a place in some other region but Karachi and Multan, too, gave him a cold shoulder.
Lahore region opted to go with the Akmal brothers as their wicket-keepers while Multan, too, preferred to stick to their first-choice Gulraiz.
“It is disappointing to not be considered in either of the Lahore teams because this is my home region and if they don’t select me, who will,” complained Haider.
He had alleged on his Facebook page that the Akmal brothers were behind his ouster but the Lahore region president Khawaja Nadeem said that they have better and performing players to fill the void.
“Haider was out of cricket for the last year and in Twenty20, we require cricketers who are performing so we went for better performers,” he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2011.