The tour of Zimbabwe will begin with the first Twenty20 match in Harare on August 23. PHOTO: AFP
The Pakistan team left for the tour of Zimbabwe today eyeing success against the home team in all three formats.
Pakistan will play two Twenty20s, three One-Day Internationals and a couple of Tests against Zimbabwe on the sojourn that will last for 25 days.
The team could not hold the preparations as per plans due to heavy downpour in Lahore that confined the players to indoor training sessions.
However, former captain Moin Khan, who will start his stint as manager on the tour, was positive about the mood within the camp.
“The team availed whatever time they had on hand,” said the former wicket-keeper on the eve of their departure. “They held indoor sessions and physical training.”
He warned the team against complacency against the lower-ranked opponents.
“I never consider any opponent weak. I learned this lesson from an upset by Bangladesh in 1999. People started talking a lot about the game but the fact was that we took them very lightly.
“Zimbabwe recently played against India and even though they lost, they must have got valuable practice and experience.”
The former Test cricketer added the tour will be a chance for youngsters to flourish their international careers.
“It will help young players to gain international experience and that will be important for their future.”
‘Indiscipline will not be tolerated’
Moin replaced Naveed Akram Cheema as manager, under whom no untoward incident occurred after the infamous 2010 spot-fixing case in England.
He said he will not tolerate indiscipline.
“I will not be overly strict and will give the required comfort level to the players. But if anybody violates the SOPs for discipline, I will not tolerate it and take action accordingly.”
To a query on his past criticism of Dav Whatmore, Moin said he will continue to keep a check on the head coach’s performance.
“It was my moral duty as former captain to give a message through constructive criticism when the performance was not good. I will do it again if need be but not in the media.
“As a boss and chairman of the tour’s selection committee, I will interfere if I feel anything is going wrong.”
Umar Akmal suffered seizure, says relative
Meanwhile, a relative said that Umar Akmal suffered a seizure during a flight to Jamaica and spent a night in a hospital before being rushed home.
Umar had been playing for Barbados Tridents in the ongoing Caribbean League after Pakistan’s recent tour to the West Indies.
“Umar’s physio was with him who took him to the hospital. The same official will be travelling with him to Dubai as a precaution,” said the relative.
Doctors in the West Indies have ruled Umar out of any danger, according to the family.
The 23-year-old has been replaced with wicket-keeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 19th, 2013.
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As chairman of the selection committee does Moin have veto power to select a team of his own choice? If no, then there is no question of introducing QUOTA SYSTEM.
Who is Moin? Manager, Captain, Coach or Chief Selector! He is acting like an all in one package. Having him at the helm is inviting a lot of problems in the days to come. First indication is recent selections of a players from a particular area. Anwar Ali, Khurram Manzoor, Faisal Iqbal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shan Masood ...... ! What is happening? Seems Moin is calling the shots everywhere and its not team selection only,where he is trying to bring quota system. There would be a lot of problems waiting for Misbah, Hafeez & Whatmore in Zimbabwe:(