The writer is an electrical engineer with a Master's degree in Information Technology
Since his “phenomenal” heroics at the Champions Trophy that enabled Pakistan to take an early exit to enjoy a much-needed breather before important future tours, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) realised the workload that Farhat was under and decided to give him ‘due rest’ for the West Indies series.
Against all odds, the master of comebacks has now been selected for the Zimbabwe tour.
His recent domestic performance is in front of my eyes; I am stunned to see that he scored 16, 7, 14, 5, 5, 65 runs in his last six domestic matches. I must acknowledge that those 65 runs were enough to prove his capabilities and to bring him back to the team against an ‘important’ opposition like Zimbabwe.
Dear selectors: have you really selected Faisal Iqbal and Wahab Riaz, too? Is there any criterion or merit for such decisions? Apart from Iqbal’s modest average of 26.76 in 26 Test matches, his last few domestic innings read 25, 22, 48, 4, 4, 42. Aged 31, he is not a youngster anymore, either. For how much longer will he get chances?
Two relatively younger batsmen, Umar Akmal and Fawad Alam, average 48.94 and 55.96 in domestic cricket, respectively. If you won’t play them against Zimbabwe, then where and when will you try them? Similarly, Usman Salahuddin (averaging over 30), Haris Sohail (averaging over 51) have been overlooked for the Test team selection, for no apparent reason. If Farhat can get 40 Test matches over a decade with a modest average of just 30, why can’t Fawad Alam get one, after averaging over 40 in only three Test matches?
In the bowling department, the PCB selectors opted for Rahat Ali and Ehsan Adil, instead of consistent performers like Sadaf Hussain and Asad Ali. Ali couldn’t impress the selectors after his performance in the ODI series in the West Indies, but his first class bowling statistics (355 wickets at an average of 22.87) are far better than the other two. He certainly deserves more opportunities.
There are some other notable omissions, too. For instance, the young aspiring wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan has also been dropped after the West Indies tour, without even being tried. He averages about 44.32 in first class cricket and his being snubbed for the Zimbabwe tour is mind-boggling. How can a cricketer prove himself without even being tried?
Similarly, Hammad Azam was dropped after only two chances in the Twenty20 series against the West Indies, which is unfair to a young player like him. Pakistan desperately needs an all-rounder and if Azam is not good enough, then Abdul Razzaq could have been considered. The World Twenty20 is around the corner and we need at least one good all-rounder to compete against the other international teams.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 12th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (4)
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Very well argued. There are many young players who deserve a chance and the series against Zimbabwe was in fact an opportunity to try some of them.
That said, I am not sure how much one can rely on domestic scores. Imran Khan argues that the standard of our domestic cricket is so low that it is not a good predictor of performance at the international level. This may explain why we have had many players who used to regularly score a lot of runs in domestic cricket, often more than those in the national team, but were unable to do well at the international level. Here is a related discussion: http://www.pakmonitor.com/fixing-pakistans-cricket-structure-imran-khans-recipe/
Imran Farhat does not cut it for the Pakistan A team. Fawad Alam definately deserves it but this time PCB should put him in Test & ODI, not T20 to see how it goes. T20 is not his natural temperament, I realise he can play domestic T20 but so can Misbah and he is the antidote of T20 in the Pakistan A team.
Pace lineup Ehsan Adil/Junaid Khan/Umar Gul (until Amir comes back)
The selection of the test squad is ludicrous at best.My curiosity about PCB's selection criteria has prodigiously aroused.I for one abhor the idea of parochialism but selecting players on the basis of regions rather than performances or outright talent has for long been a norm in Pakistan cricket and the selection for the Zimbabwe tour is another abominable example.Some sports journalists and ex-cricketers cry foul when players from Karachi for instance are omitted.Its time we realized that this is the Pakistan cricket team we're talking about.If the best 16 cricketers belong to one particular neighbourhood let alone the whole town or a city,by all means,get them into the team.At the end of it,the thousands cheering in the stands and the millions glued to their television screens cheer for Pakistan.Some seriously good players have been overlooked for too long.I wonder why a fine young pacer like Sadaf Hussain is yet to debut for Pakistan when he was the highest wicket taker in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy for two years straight.Not picking Usman Salahuddin or unearthing Irfan at the age of 30+ when he had been playing domestic cricket for the last 7 years also beats logic and is light years away from establishing any semblance of meritocracy.The same media persons that castigate the selectors for overlooking on-field performances are suddenly elated with the selection policies.I'm afraid these double standards will prevail at the detriment of Pakistan cricket.
There is no criteria my friend, what had Umer Akmal and Afridi done to make a comeback for the westindies tour? Absolutely nothing. They came and scored against a pathetic Westindies and will do the same against Zmbabwe. Why is afridi playing the zimbabwe tour? Why cant a young boy given a chance to prove himself? Utter nonsense.