Basit Ali appointed as new chief of junior selection committee

We need to groom players who can become future stars of Pakistan, says Basit Ali.

Former Test cricketer Basit Ali has been appointed as chief of the junior selection committee.

The committee will comprise former test player Ali Naqvi, who had been working closely with KRL in the first-class cricket, Pakistan U19 manager and senior National Cricket Academy (NCA) official Liaquat Ali, and Farrukh Zaman who has been involved in both the junior and senior selection committees in the past.

Basit has made it clear that merit will be the only criteria for selection under his tenure. He said that average players backed by influential people will have no place in his plans.

“Merit will be the only criteria in the selection of junior teams and there will be no injustice with good players,” Basit told The Express Tribune.

“I’m thankful to PCB chairman Najam Sethi for trusting my abilities, and I will try to fulfil my duty the best I can," he said.

"We need to groom players who can become future stars of Pakistan. I have always relished the challenge of developing young players," he added.

He further said that the youth is not taking the game seriously because favouritism has taken over justice at the basic level, forcing them to abandon their favourite sport.

Basit added that he will work closely with the senior selection committee in order to exchange talented players coming up at the junior level.