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| March 25, 2002 | Monday | Muharram 10, 1423 |
Wasim, Saqlain recalled for Sharjah Cup
KARACHI, March 24: Former captain Wasim Akram and spin king Saqlain Mushtaq were recalled to a 16-man squad for next month’s Sharjah Cup to be played between April 8 and 17.
The two match-winners were left out of the last two one-dayers against the West Indies and were not included in the Asian Test Championship final that Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka by eight wickets. Their ousters, compounded by the whipping, triggered a controversy with demands of accountability.
“I am delighted with the news. I have repeatedly said I have cricket left in me and I still want to do well for Pakistan,” Wasim, who has 447 one-day wickets, said from Lahore.
He added: “I want to play maximum matches to keep myself involved, fit and geared up. At the moment, I am targeting next year’s World Cup and want to see Pakistan reclaim the title.”
Wasim has struggled for fitness and form of late that promoted the critics to call for his omission. But the charismatic left-hander put up a consistent performance for his department in the ongoing National One-day Cricket Championship along with Saqlain.
Originally, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had named a 15-man squad. But after a couple of hours, Faisal Iqbal, who made 132 in three matches of the one-day championship, was inducted as the 16th man. Interestingly, the PCB didn’t release the updated team and the announcement was done verbally.
The wisdom of picking a squad of 16 for such an abbreviated tournament is very surprising since Pakistan had never taken more than 14 players barring a couple of occasions when 15 were selected.
Three forgotten men of Pakistan cricket — Misbah-ul-Haq, Imran Nazir and Azhar Mahmood — were also named in the squad that will play at least four matches in the double league contest. Sri Lanka and New Zealand are the other participating teams in the competition.
Immediately after the Sharjah series, Pakistan will host the Black Caps for three one-dayers and two Tests.
Opener Taufiq Umer, paceman Mohammad Zahid and one-match wonder Naved Latif were dropped having visited the Sheikhdom in February for the West Indies series.
Pakistan coach Mudassar Nazar said he was confident that these 16 would be in the 20-man provisional World Cup squad which the selectors are bound to submit to the organizers a couple of months in advance.
“If you ask the selectors, their answer would also be in the positive. I think the four remaining places up for grabs is for an opener, a middle-order batsman, a wicketkeeper and a spinner,” he added.
Mudassar said Imran Nazir, who last played in England last summer, has been picked as opener “purely on merit”. However, Mudassar’s opinion on Imran seems to be personal as the youngster has not done anything of note.
In the two domestic one-day games, he scored just 35 and should consider himself lucky that he got preference over better performers like Shadab Kabir (302 in five matches, average 151), Taufiq Umer (93 in three matches with two not outs) and Mohammad Ramzan (264 in four matches, average 132).
Mudassar said besides the specialist opening pair of Imran Nazir and Shahid Afridi, Pakistan can also try out Shoaib Malik and Faisal Iqbal. “But Imran has been picked as a first choice opener with an objective to play in all the matches.”
Pakistan has tried out 11 different openers in the last 12 months without being able to find a reliable pairing in the mould of Saeed Anwar and Aamir Sohail. But for that, the selectors are also to be blamed for not persisting with the players they picked. Continuous chopping and changing have added woes to the worries of the team management.
Misbah-ul-Haq, a grafter who showed a lot of patience and guts in New Zealand last year, has been added as Mudassar feels that he would improve if carried along.
On the strength on fast bowling department, Mudassar said it was not a problem but an encouraging sign. “I wish we had similar strength in the openers division.”
He said rotation policy will be adopted while playing fast bowlers. Waqar Younis is the captain, Wasim has 447 one-day wickets, Shoaib Akhtar is express fast, Mohammad Sami recorded a hat trick in the second one-dayer against the West Indies and then there are two all-rounders in Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood.
Mudassar said he personally liked the concept of having separate teams for one-dayers and Tests. But felt Pakistan didn’t have enough players to afford the luxury of fielding different outfits.
“We have just handful of players who have to play in both forms of the game.”
Mudassar, when asked why 31 players were invited when almost all the players in the squad are old faces, he said it was an incentive to the cricketers who were performing at domestic level. “They need to be realized that their performances are being given due consideration.”
Reuters adds:
“It’s a very balanced team and we have based our selection on the recent performances of the players in the national one-day championship,” chief selector Wasim Bari told Reuters.
“Wasim has been included as the selectors are satisfied with his fitness and form in the one-day game.”
But there was no place in the squad for wicketkeeper Moin Khan, who was invited to the national training camp in Lahore for the Sharjah tournament.
“Moin is without doubt a very experienced and proven performer,” added Bari.
“He was invited to the camp as a reserve to Rashid Latif, keeping in mind the hectic commitments of the Pakistan team leading up to the World Cup.
“But since Rashid has been performing very well, he remains the number one wicketkeeper.”
Squad: Shahid Afridi, Imran Nazir, Younis Khan, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Rashid Latif, Abdul Razzaq, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Saqlain Mushtaq, Azhar Mahmood, Faisal Iqbal.
Officials: Yawar Saeed (manager), Mudassar Nazar (coach), Sikander Bakht (analyst), Riaz Ahmad (physiotherapist).
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