Chief Selector Moin Khan announcing Pakistan's World Cup squad on Wednesday. PHOTO: PCB
A sense of frenzy and curiosity prevailed at Karachi’s National Stadium as a huge media contingent turned up to cover this major announcement. But unlike previous occasions, Chief Selector Moin Khan didn’t keep the restless media persons waiting for long, announcing the squad at the stipulated 2pm time.
While 12 players were considered a certainty, the trio of Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz and Ehsan Adil made it to the list at the eleventh hour. Sohail broke down the proverbial door of selection by his magnificent return of 10 wickets in two games of the ongoing Pentangular Cup at the NSK. The lanky pacer also bowled brilliantly in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Gold League and was subsequently declared the ‘Best Bowler of the Tournament’.
Ehsan and Wahab were drafted in on the insistence of the team management with Head Coach Waqar Younis throwing his weight behind the duo. Ehsan is rather untested at the ODI level and has, in fact, featured in only one Test this season. Wahab has turned out to be a contentious pick mainly due to his lack of form and suspect fitness in recent games. Insiders say he was given the nod ahead of Sohail Tanvir and all-rounders Bilawal Bhatti and Anwar Ali primarily due to Waqar’s strong backing.
Wahab is definitely the quickest of the quartet of Tanvir, Bhatti and Anwar but has the tendency of leaking runs on his off-days. His fitness also remains susceptible following a knee injury he suffered recently.
Yasir Shah, the leg-spinner, was preferred over Raza Hasan, the left-armer, mainly due to his outstanding form in Test cricket and his fielding abilities. In Australian conditions, Yasir is expected to play a back-up role to Shahid Afridi and Harris Sohail.
Left-arm pacers Mohammad Irfan and Junaid Khan were considered automatic selections after proving their fitness in the Pentangular, and were expectedly slotted in.
The selectors, one feels, wisely opted to choose an additional bowler by selecting only two front-line openers Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez. Sarfraz Ahmed, the in-form wicketkeeper batsman, can be used as a back-up opener, as indicated by Moin.
The fulcrum of the middle-order revolves around veterans Younis Khan and Misbahul Haq while Umar Akmal and Sohaib Maqsood should revel on pitches where the ball is expected to bounce evenly. All in all, the selection panel seems to have done a decent job in choosing the World Cup 2015. The onus is now on Misbah and his troops to deliver. Go well Pakistan.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2015.
COMMENTS (12)
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Hafeez has been selected in world cup as a specialist batsmen i dont know whether to cry or laugh at that he is only in the world cup squad bcuz him and misbah are good friends. Fawad alam is not a big hitter but he rotates the strike something misbah and younis khan can not do instead they soak up deliveries and expect umer akmal or afridi to win them the match with the required run rate too high. Good luck to Pakistan they will need it with this squad and idiotic management (moin khan)
PCB selectors are failed to make any impact despite of few surprise changes which definitely adapt them to lead the new game plans/strategies especially after evaluating the bowling combination. For the batting combination, under consideration of the Australian and New Zealand conditions, Sharjeel Khan or Sami Aslam, (both of them are much better timers) would be consider much better choice as an optional opener or in place of Hafeez (who hasn't got good track record in past few years esp in ODI's & now he may also not eligible for bowling), selectors must induct one of the newcomer shining star would play a vital role to create some initial batting momentum as we've assessed through their past matches.
Same as for Asad Shafeeq with better technique and now he is in form or Azher Ali with strong defence have capability to stay on the wicket, play for much longer & grafting innings must be consider in middle order setting because these players use to play much better on back-foot wrt the conditions.
As Pakistani Team conventionally won their maximum matches in past because of better Spin bowling attack/combination which would save many runs in the middle wicket taking options, but this time they seems to loose the edge. There must be a place for one more spinner like Raza Hasan or Zulfiqar Babar in the absence of any reliable off-spinner for better spin bowling combination.
Also required inclusion of one fast bowling all-rounder like Anwer Ali in place Wahab to make the side balance; No need for so many pacers in the squad, having only 15 best players to select in all. Why suddenly changes their game plan/strategies to be more rely on their specialist bowlers esp in ODI's w/o experimenting things in past? so here again selectors play a gamble and shown their inconsistency but we all know that after all its a World Cup, not a practice tour. Any Way Good Luck To Team Pakistan For Winning The WC 2015 Title Inshalla!
@syed You must be joking. So Fawad Alam " does not suit" international cricket? You must be joking. Fawad Alam has the highest ODI batting average among all the pakistani batsmen in the current squad!!
I think selection process is very difficult these days. moin khan is best selector till date. looking at the previous selections. this squad is best choices available. fawad alam is gud player at domestic level but he doesn't suit in modern level cricket.well done moin bhai. I appreciate.
The absence of Fawad Alam raisies a big question.
@Abdul Lateef
You dont need a lot of spinners to bowl in Australia - two batsment (Afridi and Harris) bowling effective spin is more than enough..so absence of Ajmal and Raza shouldnt make that much of a dent.
As for the batting i genuinely feel
So the 2nd best batsman of 2014 became the sacrificial lamb for one outburst of rather mediocre Younus Khan.
Fawad Alam should have been selected.
Sohail Khan picked for WC after a 3 year gap from ODIs. Hafeez just for his 'batting'. Ehsan Adll with 130 kph?? Harris Sohail is fresh. Yasir is fresh .. and this suqad is winning the worldcup. Lucky if you make it to the semis. I more sane option was to pick Abdul Razzaq, Nasir Jamshed and Shoaib Malik. Anyways, all the best.
Instead of Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam should have been in the top squad.
Strong WC squad? This is probably the weakest ever WC squad for Pak. Nevertheless it can be a blessing in disguise. Good luck.
The team is overall good except for some selections like Hafeez honestly he is only in the team because of his bowling and if he is not going to bowl then he is just useless as a batsman and we all know that he will fail on the bouncy tracks of Australia and New Zealand in front of genuine seamers. Secondly, Younis khan why is he selected we all know he is a living legend but he is good for test cricket not for ODI because we can't afford 2 batsmen of same kind Misbah and younis together where both of them require at least 30/40 balls to have a go at the bowling which is too much and often we end up putting too much pressure on late middle order. In the bowling I think Reza Hassan should have been selected as he is a good prospect for the future and spin bowling is our strength over the years and we need an extra spinner against teams other than sub continent. So, in palce of wahab riaz and extra spinner Reza was the right choice. In place of Younis, Fawad and in place of Hafeez rightfully Sami Aslam ..