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| April 19, 2002 | Friday | Safar 5, 1423 |
Saeed ruled out of series
KARACHI, April 18: Opener Saeed Anwar was ruled out of the entire series against New Zealand as Pakistan cricket selectors kept faith in the same side for the one-day series against New Zealand that retained that Sharjah Cup Wednesday.
The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, said that Saeed had been overlooked because his fitness was unknown.
He added that even if Saeed had regained fitness, he lacked match practice “and it would be too risky to directly include him for the Tests.”
Saeed, in the last 12 months, has played just one Test and two one-day internationals. He is nursing a wrist injury he sustained during October’s Sharjah Cup.
“I think we have three good openers in Imran Nazir, Taufiq Umer and Shahid Afridi. I have no reasons to believe that they can not deliver the goods. But the selectors will monitor the performance of the openers before deciding whom to select for the Tests.
“I would like to see Saeed regain fitness quickly and get back in the side because a lot of cricket has to be played until the World Cup.”
Tauqir said the only change in the team was of Azhar Mahmood who left to join Surrey as replacement for Saqlain Mushtaq. His place has been taken over by promising allrounder Yasir Arafat.
Yasir has played two one-day internationals against Sri Lanka in March 2000.
The PCB boss also said said leading players have been told to pick and chose international matches as the board has decided to adopt rotation policy.
He further indicated that a couple of frontline players might be left out from the two-Test series against New Zealand.
“I have talked to the captain, coach and Wasim Akram and told them that they have to play selected matches. The objective is to prevent them from burn-out and at the same time allow newcomers to earn experience.
“I have conveyed to the players that they cannot play every match and thus needed to inform the management in advance which games they wanted to skip. It’s the players option because he is the best judge of his fitness,” he said.
The General said it was premature to say if Wasim Akram would be named in the