After the retirement of Shoaib Akhtar, Sami has been the quickest of all the present bowlers. However, medium pacers Tanvir Ahmed, Ehsan Adil and Rahat Ali were selected ahead of him for the ongoing tour.
Some former cricketers were also vocal in their criticism of the selection committee for not selecting Sami and Wahab Riaz for the Test series as they felt that Pakistan’s pace battery was packed with mediocre players.
“Pakistan has several tours in the coming 18 months so I’ll continue doing well in domestic cricket to earn a recall,” Sami told The Express Tribune.
“It was a disappointment to miss out on the South Africa tour because the wickets there are really helpful to fast-bowlers. However, now I need to look ahead and I’m concentrating on doing well in the ongoing Faysal Bank One-Day Cup.”
Sami had a good start in the domestic one-day event as he took three wickets to help the Karachi Dolphins win their first match emphatically.
He had done reasonably well on his last comeback against Sri Lanka last year where he took four wickets in two Twenty20s, following up with three wickets in the first One-Day International (ODI).
However, he sustained an injury in the match and he was not played in the next three matches despite being fit for the third and fourth ODIs.
The player stressed that he wanted to make a strong comeback as he felt that he still had a lot to offer to Pakistan cricket.
“The last time I played against Sri Lanka, I was in a very good frame of mind and went on to do well. My confidence was increasing before I got injured and then the last ODI overshadowed my good showing in the series.
“But I’m still eager for an impressive return. I will try to give my best in the domestic tournaments and hope that the selectors will provide me with an opportunity.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 7th, 2013.
COMMENTS (6)
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Sami, You are fast, fit, hardworking and a good person and are a good team man. Yet somehow you are unable to convert that into successful international career, you are given too many chances to do that but you did not, you had many chances both on fast pitches and swinging conditions but you did not capitilized on that.
Appreciate your hardwork in the domestic, it will do good to your career in the national team or otherwise and will help fellow bowlers and batsmen indirectly.
You are successful in domestic b/c some or your deliveries are genuinely good and probably are too hot to handle for lesser batsmen, but many deliveries are wayward which the lesser batsmen might not put away but the international batsmen will... everytime.
Anyway keep it up try to show happiness whenever you get wicket, bowl 99% of your deliveries according to plan and target and make dua...
Everyone deserves a 200th chance!
I'm sorry but he has been given waayyy too many chances.
apart from the hairdo-he has NOTHING to offer
NOOOOOOOOO...not again..having played so much international cricket he still doesnt have control over his line...all he does is throw misdirected fast deliveries and get smacked all around the ground
How many more chances does this guy need???, he's been give way toooooo many chances and still can't establish himself. Selectors should never ever think of picking this guy again!