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| September 22, 2005 | Thursday | Sha'aban 17, 1426 |
Inzamam elated at being picked for World XI
LAHORE, Sept 21: Inzamamul Haq, the Pakistan captain, expressed his delight and excitement over being selected to the World XI for next month’s ICC Super Series Test and one-day matches against Australia.
Inzamam was a surprise omission when the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced the teams for one-off Test and three one-day matches last month.
Inzamam will replace India’s Sachin Tendulkar who is unfit.
Inzamam said that he had decided to play the matches setting aside any back problem due to long journey to Australia ahead of the home series against England.
He said that he might not have travelled to Australia only to attend the Test captains’ meeting in Sydney, but now he would be going to play some cricket also.
Inzamam’s back problem had forced him to miss two of three Tests Pakistan played against Australia in Australia last season.
“I will break my journey on my way to Australia in order to avoid any back problem ahead of the home series against England because it is a very tough and important series for Pakistan,” Inzamam said.
Inzamam said that he was treating the inclusion as a special opportunity for him to represent the country in the World XI and added he was disappointed when he was not selected to the first playing XI.
He said that he would try his level best to perform outstandingly in the matches and he was quite fit.
“I wasn’t fully prepared while representing Asian XI against African XI in South Africa last month, but now after extensive training in the reconditioning camp I am fully prepared to meet the challenges,” he said.
Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar is the only Pakistani player selected for both Test and one-day matches.
All-rounder Shahid Afridi has been selected for one-day matches.
Meanwhile, the director PCB cricket operations Salim Altaf said that ICC official David Richardson informed him over the telephone of selecting Inzamam.
“No doubt it is a great honour for all Pakistanis and Inzamam also deserved it,” he said.
He said that paceman Shabbir would go to Australia on Sept 25 to get a final report on his bowling action from biomechanics expert Bruce Elliot.
He said that Shabbir would appear for the biomechanics test on Sept 28.
Shabbir will only be available for the England series if he is cleared by the expert and endorsed by the ICC.
Shabbir currently has 27 degrees bent which is far from 15 degrees permitted by the ICC.
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