PCB announces squad for South Africa tour

Injured Irfan out, Bhatti only new face in 17-man squad.

KARACHI:

Pakistan team received a major setback for their away tour of South Africa as lanky pacer Mohammad Irfan was ruled out due to an injury, while the national selection committee brought back the trio of Shoaib Malik, Abdur Razzaq and Anwar Ali for the three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and  two Twenty20 series.

The selectors also overlooked team management’s request of inducting seasoned campaigner Younus Khan, deciding not to press the panic button and keep faith in youngsters like Umar Amin and Asad Shafiq, despite the consistent batting failure against the Proteas in the Emirates.

Wahab Riaz and wicket-keeper Sarfaraz Ahmed were also left out from the 17-man squad. Riaz was wicket-less in his last three outings.

The selectors retained opener Nasir Jamshed and decided not to blood opener Sharjeel Khan, who has been a prolific run-scorer at domestic level and recently played a 194-run knock in the one-day tournament for ZTBL.

Bowling all-rounder Bilawal Bhatti of SNGPL is the only new face inducted in the squad. Bhatti had the experience of playing in South Africa where he represented the Sialkot Stallions in last year’s Champions League qualifiers.

Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar failed to make the final cut due to the hand injury he sustained in the second Test against South Africa last month.

The 17-man squad was announced after the numbers of officials was cut down to eight from nine as assistant coach Shahid Aslam opted to stay out of the tour.

Irfan’s injury a major blow: selectors

The selectors were not happy with team management’s ‘overuse’ of Mohammad Irfan, who broke down with a leg injury in the second Twenty20 against the Proteas on Friday night.

“Irfan wasn’t handled wisely by the team management and he got injured as a result of being overburdened,” one of the selection committee members told The Express Tribune.

“He shouldn’t have been played in the Tests as it took the sting out of his bowling, and hence he looked tired in both one-day and Twenty20 series.”

‘We should keep faith in youngsters’

The official further added that they want to build the team for future, which is why they did not include Younus despite team management pressing for his entry.

“We delayed the team announcement because we wanted to sort out the inclusion of Younus and the retention of Jamshed,” the selector revealed.

“Team management wanted Younus because of his experience but we felt that Amin and Shafiq should be given more chances to prove that they can lead the Pakistan batting line.”

The Pakistan squad includes Misbahul Haq (captain ODI), Muhammad Hafeez (captain T20), Ahmad Shehzad, Umar Akmal (wk), Umar Amin, Shahid Afridi, Abdur Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Sohail Tanvir, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Nasir Jamshed, Asad Shafiq and Bilawal Bhatti.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2013.

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