Discarded fast-bowler Mohammad Sami has questioned his repeated snub from the national squad despite performing well on the domestic circuit.
Sami, currently representing Duronto Rajshahi in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), was also of the view that while other senior players – including former captain Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat – were included in the national side, his was a deserved inclusion.
"I've performed outstandingly but am still out of the squad," Sami told The Express Tribune from Dhaka. "On the other hand, Malik was included in the national team despite hitting just one century in domestic events, while Farhat has failed to justify his inclusion despite the various chances he's been given. Both of them are in the national squad."
The selection committee is headed by Mohammad Ilyas, who is Farhat's father-in law, while Azhar Khan, Asif Baloch and Farrukh Zaman are assisting him.
Sami, who captained Karachi Blues in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, was in fine form during the tournament, picking up 39 wickets at an average of 19.8, while scoring 579 runs. He carried his good run into the Pentangular Cup, bagging 17 wickets in two matches before leaving for BPL, where he registered the event's first hat-trick. Despite his consistent show, Sami has been ignored for national duty since November 2010, something which has left him perplexed.
"I've done well everywhere, I don't know what the selectors want from me now. If there's any other event they want me to play and perform in, it should be brought into my notice. The new chairman Zaka Ashraf should take notice of the injustice I've been subjected to."
'Sami's in the form of his life'
Meanwhile, former selector Saleem Jaffar, who is currently coaching Sindh, also believes that the national selection committee is making a big mistake by overlooking Sami.
"He's in the form of his life and can still play for Pakistan for another four years," he said. "He has superb fitness levels. Other bowlers can't match Sami's pace."
Jaffar also believed that Sami was capable of playing as an all-rounder in the one-day format if given the responsibility.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 19th, 2012.
COMMENTS (30)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1713853507-0/MalalaHilary-(2)1713853507-0-270x192.webp)
Muhammad Sami can definitely play in ODIs and T20's You are already ruling Test matches with SPINNERS Sami's ODI bowling average almost shoulders with premier bowler UMAR GUL (ODIs 27.64)
Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5wODIs 83 81 4094 3357 118 5/10 5/10 28.44 4.91 34.6 3 1 T20Is 3 3 66 108 6 3/29 3/29 18.00 9.81 11.0 0 0
In place of conventional cheema..I think Sami should be selected for the upcoming World T20... and he deserves a chance too if we look at his performance in BPL...!!
No Sami deserves another go..... Usko chance dena chaye selectors join this ET debate and see we have more info than u peops
Selection of Malik and Farhat does not justify Sami's selection too. All these three and a bunch of other 'talented' cricketers have been given enough chances and must be rested.
I am a punjabi and I agree that including Farhat and Malik and no chance fo Sami is WRONG ! Hope the ODI loss gets these guys dropped and we cam see genuine fast bowlers in !
@Asad Khan, It is a cricket team and not a national assembly that they have seats proportional to population. Anyways Karachi is about 15 million 9% of Pakistan. By that ratio it should have 1 seat out of eleven.
@Asad Khan, This is a cricket team and a national assembly that they have seats proportional to population. Anyways Karachi is about 15 million 9% of Pakistan. By that ratio it should have 1 seat out of eleven.
My well informed 'Dada g' Karachi has a Population of approx. 18 million and Pakistan about 170 million. So do your Maths and you'll find that Karachi should not have even one player in the squad...
It`s quata system, which hurting all institutions of Pakistan.Cricket,Hockey,Sqush,PIA. Railway.steel Mill and so on. Thanks Shaheed Bhutto who brought this up.Pakistan is being run by those people whose fore fathers have no significant role in Sub-continent .
@Flying Object - What's the population of Karachi son? If you talk about share w.r.t population then I think Karachi should have at least 4 players in national team!
It is a reality that Karachi players are overlooked...... Khurram Maznoor scored 77 in his last Test innings against Australia in Australia and he was thrown out....... Tanvir Ahmed impress both with the bat and bowl but where is he not in the team........ Asim Kamal's class player was destroyed by anti Karachi Lobby......... Khalid Latif a powerhouse in batting did the outstandingly against New Zealand but he was not played in five ODIs against Aussies and ek T20 diya use hhh
Sami is definitely in form of his life... BPL frnachise are taking full use of it but not Pakistan Cricket Board what a shame... seriously... look at Farhat a failure..... Malik a controversial personality......Mohammad Hafeez became a player after 100 one-dayers before that his average was just 22 hhhhh...... Even Gul had less than 100 wickets in 34 Tests but now he has clicked on its just about providing adequate opportunity to a deserving person........ Sami has always been fielded on dead track... He got 3 wickets in Five overs against Australia on his comwback and traitor Salman Butt never gave him the sixth over... and he was not given the ball in the secong innings this shows bias and those who believs it is not these facts are a slap on their faces.
Agree 100% with Aamir above. This undue favouritism has killed talent in our national sport. How can you justify inclusion of Malik and Imran Farhat when they both have failed at numerous occassions. Sami has never been given a chance to prove himself. Even in past he was playing few matches and then dropped, never played continuosly for Pakistan.
@RealPakistani and @Omai - Have you sees stats of Malik, Cheema and Imran Farhat? What special they did which sami didn't? this is biasness which I am sure you guys won't accept!
i'm afraid for the first time ever i have to support Sami here. he is actually spot here with these two guys in the team. his criticism is so spot on. Malik and Farhat never deserve to be part of Pakistan team (lets put aside the past for a moment and talk about atleast the last 2 years). what have the achieved with the green shirts. whats their contribution? why are they in the team? but having said this all i dont think even Sami deserve to play for Pakistan. he has been given enough chances to represent Pakistan but he always failed to deliver. so his inclusion will be a blunder nontheless.
need to bring in players like Nasir Jamshed in the team in place of Farhat. more shots, good tenchnique against fast bolwing n very solid against the spinners. bring in Hammad Azam in place of Malik. he can bowl, he can field, he can bat. he can be abdul razzaq in making BUT only if he keep playing on big stages. when on earth will these guys played.. i thought Sohail Khan was a genuine fast bowler and should be played more and more. u cannot ask any bowler to show ur talent in two series and that too a series in two years. what the hell..how can he perform in that? keep him playing the guy has some serious pace..all he need is confidence and time in the team. he can deliver...
Umar Riaz and Real Pakistani: Please look at his bowling average, economy rate and strike rate in ODIs. Also compare it to that of all the fast bowlers in the squad.
For those who are weighting sami for not so good stats...... please be clear that he is only been played on flat pitches for last 2 times he has been selected.... He has always delivered on seaming pitches,, He have the potential a lot better than Cheema etc......
@ Asad Khan, please refrain from making ethnically biased comments that are not justified. We already have our share of problems and can do without more. While he may be in the form of his life and I would love to have firing but have a look at his career stats and the number of years he was given to cement his position in Pakistan team. He always lost his place after consistently bowling without any plan and sense. There is not injustice there and definitely nothing to do with ethnicity.
Imran Farfat is selected just because his Father in Law, Muhammad Ilyas, is chairman of the selection committee, i find this hard to believe that this thing has gone unnoticed and no body has raised their voice over this thing. Imran Farhat has failed continuously to prove his place in the team but still he is given numerous chances, despite talented youngsters are sitting on the bench.
if you are from "Lahore group" or "Karachi group" then your entry in to the national team is very easy and thats what Imran Farhat has right now. he belongs to Lahore, the Group which at the moment is ruling the roost, so its no surprise that how his Dady in Law is manipulating and manoeuvring the resources and other selectors to make them select Imran Farhat in the playing eleven.
We really don't need someone like Sami in the team because he's been given more then enough chances and he has failed! With that being said, if we are going to add players like Farhat and Malik just because they have connections or relatives in the management then we deserve to lose every single match that we play them! The moral of the team will never go up if they have players who are not selected on merit.
@RealPakistani its not about Karachi and Lahore, its about merit. If you can justify inclusion of Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat, Karachi players will be satisfied on merit criteria. Even if you compare oldies like Cheema and Tanvir Ahmed, the record speaks that 16 wickets and 4 tests, against top teams but ignored completely. Such big blunders of Selection clearly indicate favourtism in PCB which raise such objections.
Mr. Asad and Mr. Chilli...just have a look at the performance of SAMI and then you will feel ashamed of as whom you are defending...in test cricket he is on top of the bowling average from bottom...wow what a distinction, so why selectors should select him again. 35 tests and 80 odd wickets at an average of 52...great.
Then come to Kaneria, he will never perform on the first day of a test..look at his record he is always comfortable on the 4th or 5th day...so a good test bowler is required on all days...isn't it??? then his record shows some good performances but mainly against weaker sides, and lost causes.
Lastly don't try to say like this Karachi Players, Lahore Players when they are selected they are representing PAKISTAN only. The truth is Karachi is no more producing players like Miandad, Haneef, Saeed Anwar, Bari, Mushtaq.M, Iqbal Qasim etc...the fact is the player whom I really miss and like is Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor...whenever Karachi players issue is raised its always for Sami, Faisal Iqbal and kaneria...all tried players but can't be trusted anymore. faisal also played 26tests for 1000 runs only...so 26tests are enough to check one;s talent and performance at the big level...isn't it????
Players from NWFP side are really performing and not getting chances...I think they should raise their issues also....
@Sami: You don't have a relative in a high position or your not the favorite of some politicians...that's they main reason you are not in the squad! It's really nothing to do with your abilities.
In this Pakistani team, everyone can get in except Danish Kaneria.
Another victim of injustice and petty politics. If you keep merit and performance criteria of selection then how can you justify, Shoaib Malik, Imran Farhat, Aizaz Cheema etc.
Sami is not the only victim of this Chacha, Mama culture of PCB. Look at Abdul Razzaq as well.
My advice is to all players, guys just do good and play in tournaments like BPL, make clean money, that's it.
PCB and its Chaudry culture will never change.
Favouritism is the key in Pakistan squad. Karachi players are overlooked for average players of Lahore and other Punjab. We have all seen venom of our present selector in the past against Karachi Players.
Muhammad Sami has worst bowling average in history of test cricket for anyone taken more than 50 wickets. He has taken just 84 wickets in 35 tests with an average of 52.27. In ODIs and T20 he has economy rates of 4.91 and 9.81 respectively. He was given more than enough chances already. Shoaib Malik and Imran Farhat has much respectable records Click here to see the results
Sami is right, he has genuine pace and at this form is even better than Gul and Cheema. I support his case, give him a chance. Get rid of Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik once for all. Its a total shame how people with some consious vouch for the inclusion in the team. They should note that if they have some faith one day they will be asked for their deeds and will not be treated unjustly.
His only fault - belongs to Karachi!