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| February 06, 2007 | Tuesday | Muharram 17, 1428 |
Azhar to join Pakistan squad in SA
According to details, Azhar will reach Durban on Tuesday and will make himself available for selection for the second One-day International on Wednesday.
Azhar’s brilliant performance in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Silver League tournament finally impressed the national selectors who have now decided to pick him as the latest reinforcement.
But the selectors, who did not even consider Azhar for the list of 30 World Cup probables, have now chosen to ignore the claims of medium-pacer Rao Iftikhar, who is already among the probables for the mega event.
Azhar, a veteran of 139 ODIs, last featured in one-dayer exactly two years ago against Australia in Sydney.
“I made a comeback after putting up a good performance and it is my only source which forced the selectors to give me a chance to show my worth mettle,” Azhar told Dawn on Monday.
In the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Azhar took 25 wickets and scored back-to-back centuries against Multan while leading Islamabad.
Asked if he is mentally prepared for the international comeback in such a short time, Azhar said he is keen to play because he is now on national duty.
“If the team management asks me to play I will give my best performance to help the team stage a comeback,” he said, while referring to Pakistan’s abject performance in the Twenty20 International and the first ODI.
Despite putting up a good fight, Pakistan lost the Test series 2-1 before losing the Twenty20 tie by 10 wickets and the first one-dayer by 164 runs at Centurion.
Pakistan’s bowling resources, bereft of key fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul because of fitness problems, were put to the swords by South Africans who plundered a mammoth 392 on Sunday.Meanwhile, Shabbir, who returned home on Monday after suffering a groin injury during Friday’s Twenty20 International against South Africa, said the PCB’s physiotherapist has advised him to restart bowling in the next 10 days.
Shabbir said that the problem is not that serious and hopefully he would be able to resume bowling soon.
He hoped to be fit well before the announcement of World Cup squad.
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