KARACHI, Feb 22: Former Test captain Majid Khan on Sunday bitterly criticised the national selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for leaving out his son Bazid Khan from the revised list of probables
for the forthcoming home series against India.
Talking to Dawn from Islamabad, Majid expressed his shock by stating that Bazid had yet again been victimised by the selectors. "Enough is enough. Honestly speaking, I am deeply hurt and disappointed that the selectors have dropped Bazid from the originally announced list of probables," Majid fumed.
"The criterion for picking players in our cricket baffles me. In the past, I had tolerated the step-motherly treatment meted out to my son. But I thought keeping quiet will not serve any purpose," he went on.
"What wrong Bazid has done to deserve being treated like an outcast? After all, he averaged 80 both in the Patron's Trophy and the Patron's Cup this season. And that is a valid point for selection."
Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, omitted Bazid on Saturday along with Asim Kamal, Shadab Kabir and Faisal Iqbal, while recalling one-day specialists Shahid Afridi, Saleem Elahi, Imran Nazir and Naved Latif.
"I simply don't understand the kind of policy the selectors are following. This way they are only serving to discourage young and talented players from proving their worth," Majid, currently the director of academy at Pakistan Television, said.
"This is not the first time that Bazid had to suffer at the hands of the PCB selectors. They are bent upon sabotaging his prospects of representing the country at the highest grade of cricket.
"How can they (selectors) substantiate their impartiality by adopting methods to keep away those players who have been performing exceptionally well in domestic cricket season after season," he remarked, while adding: "The itinerary for the Indian series means that the training camp won't be long enough for the selectors to call up more trainees. What is the surety that those left out will be asked to join the camp?"
Majid, one of the most respectable figures in international cricket history who also served as PCB's chief executive, minced no words in saying that the way things are currently being operated in the corridors of power in Pakistan cricket spell trouble for the country.
