KARACHI, Dec 28: With Pakistan squad scheduled to be announced on Friday, the selectors were still undecided on picking fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for the South Africa tour.
Until Thursday evening the deliberations continued in the absence of the chairman of selectors Wasim Bari, who is in Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj.
The remaining selectors Iqbal Qasim, the acting chairman, and Ehteshamuddin, had not yet developed a consensus whether to gamble with Shoaib despite the 31-year-old speedster’s lacklustre performance in recent domestic matches and current fitness.
According to reliable sources, Shoaib is almost certain to miss the first part of the tour that features Tests at Centurion (Jan 11-15), Port Elizabeth (Jan 19-23) and Cape Town (Jan 26-30), mainly because he failed to impress the selectors during the short-training camp set-up in Lahore for the challenging tour.
The maverick pacer could, however, be in contention for the subsequent series of five One-day Internationals to be played between Feb 4 and 14 if he were to regain match fitness and form.
The sources indicated that fellow fast bowler Mohammad Sami is likely to replace Shoaib since lanky pacer Shabbir Ahmed is also not being considered as he still needs more time to get into the groove after serving a one-year ban for a suspect bowling action.
But Pakistan would undoubtedly be pleased with the availability of Mohammad Asif who looked sharp and helped Sialkot Stallions retain Twenty20 Cup title in Karachi this week.
Asif and Shoaib were earlier exonerated in the doping scandal by a PCB-appointed appellate panel earlier this month after being slapped with bans by a previous commission that found them guilty of using banned steroid nandrolone.
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has challenged the overturn of the bans in the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sports. But until now the Pakistan Cricket Board, which is adamant that the issue was an internal matter, has not heard anything from either WADA or the ICC.
Unless there is further development on this front, Pakistan have the luxury of selecting the best possible squad. It also means both Shoaib and Asif remain in contention for the World Cup selection.
Meanwhile, the 17-member Test squad for South Africa is expected to be dominated by batsmen, including the nearly-forgotten Asim Kamal, who played the last of his 12 Tests against England at Lahore 13 months ago, and Yasir Hameed.
Asif is likely to spearhead the five-man pace artillery with Danish Kaneria the solitary specialist spinner while Abdur Rehman, the slow left-armer, earmarked for the ODIs.
The selectors were also unsure about the probable inclusion of Zulqarnain Haider, a regular in Pakistan ‘A’ team, as backup to first-choice wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal keeping in mind the World Cup which begins in the Caribbean barely weeks after the tour ends.
The Pakistan squad leaves for Johannesburg on Tuesday night. National coach Bob Woolmer, physio Darryn Lifson and trainer Murray Stevenson are already in South Africa where they are enjoying the Christmas and New Year holidays with their families. The trio would join the squad before the three-day match against South Africa ‘A’ in Kimberley from Jan 6.
POSSIBLE SQUAD: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Kamran Akmal, Zulqarnain Haider, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Asif, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami.
