Despite calls for the exclusion of senior players from the team, the selection committee is expected to resist making any major changes to the squad for the upcoming South Africa series. PHOTO: AFP
The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) selection committee is expected to kick off the selection process for the home series against South Africa today, targeting to form preliminary squads for all formats in the first phase.
Salim Jaffar, who is supervising the selection committee in the absence of a head, flew out to Lahore yesterday for a day-long meeting at the PCB’s headquarters that will take place today.
The selectors are meeting at a time when calls for drastic changes in the team have recurred following a humiliating defeat to lower-ranked Zimbabwe in the final Test in Harare.
Former cricketers are demanding the exclusion of players, who have failed consistently, and want the injection of new blood in the team.
However, an official close to the selection committee confirmed to The Express Tribune that the selectors’ initial list of probables hardly carries any surprises.
“There is no panic situation within the selection committee,” said the official.
“The initial pool of players will be more or less the same. The selection committee is targeting to form a pool of 40-50 players for all the formats in addition to the three-day warm-up game against South Africa.
“All the senior players including Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat and Umar Gul are in contention at the moment as the selectors aren’t overlooking any mainstream player.”
Pakistan will host two Tests, five One-Day Internationals and a couple of Twenty20s against South Africa in the UAE from October 14 to November 15.
Selectors to wait for Misbah, manager’s report
The official said that the final decision on the squads will be taken after reviewing reports on the tour of Zimbabwe from the manager Moin Khan and captain Misbahul Haq.
“Moin accompanied the team for the first time as manager. His feedback will carry weight and definitely be assessed. The committee will also wait for Misbah to return from the Champions League for a detailed meeting.”
The official acknowledged that the South Africa series will be an uphill task and the selectors will take all the stakeholders into confidence to avoid any conflict.
The manager is scheduled to return today along with other Karachi-based players. The selectors are hoping for a report from him by the end of this week.
Hafeez on 50th spot in Test batsmen’s rankings
Meanwhile, after Pakistan slipped to sixth in Test rankings from fourth spot, Misbah’s men experienced mixed fortunes in the ICC Players’ Rankings for Tests.
Misfiring Mohammad Hafeez managed a 50th spot after failing in the two-match series against Zimbabwe. He scored just 59 runs from four innings with an average of under 15 runs. Asad Shafiq, who also failed miserably scoring just 43 from four innings, is in 34th spot. However, Misbah moved three places up to 12th in the batsmen’s ranking while Younus Khan remains in sixth position.
In the bowlers’ rankings, Saeed Ajmal lost a place and now stands in fourth in the list but his partner Abdur Rehman moved up two places to 11th. The other Pakistan bowler to move up is Junaid Khan, who is now at a career-best 32nd from 34th.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 16th, 2013.
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COMMENTS (6)
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I think the time is absolutely right to try out some new players. We cannot expect players like Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq, and M.Hafeez to go on forever. They are already in their mid to late 30's. The world cup is not too far, and the time is just perfect to introduce some new players. The next yr or so will give them enough experience to get ready for the world cup.
Ali Khan
We need to induct the new players and groom them. We are loosing anyways so why not give chance to the new players and stick with them for at least 2 years. Simply change the whole team bring new blood. its time to say good bye to the misbah's & hafeez's.
@Mirza: {The main problem is Pakistan does not have too many new batsmen in waiting} That unfortunately is the real reason. We have had many promising batsmen in the last few years like Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umer Akmal, Nasir Jamshed etc but they started to fade out well before reaching their full potential. When there are no automatic choices, whatever selection is made by PCB, it will be open to criticism. If you have a Saleem Malik, Inzimam, Mohammad Yousaf, Waseem Raja, Majid Khan, Asif Iqbal etc, no amount of conspiracies, favoritism or board politics can keep them out. But when you a limited pool of average / mediocre players who are only marginally better or marginally poor from other contenders on a given day, it is an open field for favoritism and string pulling. No Board howsoever manipulative can keep the likes of Virot Kholi and Shekar Dhawan out of the team.
The main problem is Pakistan does not have too many new batsmen in waiting. Even the angels cannot select a winning side from the mediocre talent pool. We can malign the leadership, selectors, and top officials but they themselves cannot go out and play. No young Hanif, Zaheer, Miandad, Inzi, M. Yousf or Younus in sight.
Few suggestions to stem the rot in the Pakistani cricket
Considering that now all the Test matches to be played till 31st December, 16 will be ranking Test matches, for selecting best 4 Test teams. These 4 Test teams will only qualify for playing the 1st ever Test Matches Championship to be held in June - July 2017. As such, Pakistani cricket can't afford business as usual (specially keeping in mind that by the year 2017, Misbah ul Haq will definitely be not there, to play the Test championship).
Must find a new captain for the coming ODI and Test matches series against Sri Lanka and South Africa, so that the new captain is well experienced by the time ODI world cup is played in 2015 and Test championship in 2017.
No harm in allowing Misbah ul Haq and Younis Khan to continue playing till they are fit to play.
Keeping in view of the age (35 years), current fitness, batting form and dearth of any potential player to be considered as a leader, may consider Younis Khan as a captain for the Test and ODI formats to lead the Pakistani teams till 2015 ODI World Cup and 2017 Test championship.
However, if senior players are to be altogether discarded for the consideration of captaincy then may be Saeed Ajmal can be considered, as captain to lead the team in the ODI and Test matches, as a prospect for the long term investment.
Must infuse more talented fresh blood like, Ahmad Shahzad, Awais Zia, Umer Amin, Harris Sohail and other such like youngsters in ODI and Test matches. No harm if we lose with these players when we are not winning with the current lot of seniors and semi seniors like M Hafeez etc.
Mohsin Hassan Khan must be brought back as a head coach, because Pakistan has yet to win a Test match series, under the tenure of Dav Whatmore.
Entire PCB, repeat entire PCB needs immediate revamping, without which to expect any improvement in the performance of our players, will be a far fetched dream.