LAHORE: Another inexperienced fast bowler Rahat Ali having just one ODI to his credit was included on Thursday in Pakistan’s World Cup squad in place of injured Junaid Khan.

Rahat replaces Bilawal Bhatti who fared badly on the pre-World Cup New Zealand tour.

Interestingly, the 26-year-old was not even in the preliminary list of 30 World Cup probables sent to the International Cricket Council (ICC) some two months ago.

In January, Sohail Khan, another pacer who was also not part of the preliminary list, out of nowhere was named by national selectors in Pakistan’s final 15-member party for the mega event.

A PCB press release on Thursday said: “Chairman Shaharyar M. Khan on the recommendation of chief selector Moin Khan has approved Rahat Ali as a replacement for injured Junaid Khan for the World Cup.
The PCB has sent a request to the ICC Technical Committee to approve Rahat as a replacement. Rahat’s name was not in the list of 30-member preliminary squad announced for the World Cup.”

Multan-born Rahat remained wicketless in the only ODI he played against Sri Lanka in June 2012 at Pallekele. The lanky left-armer has also featured in 11 Tests, taking 31 wickets at a not-so-attractive average of 36.67.

Like other operators in the Pakistan bowling attack available for the coming World Cup (except for experienced Shahid Afridi, 391 ODIs, 393 wickets), Rahat does not possess a high-profile record in international contests.

Currently, several key Pakistan bowlers are either on injury list like veteran Umar Gul (125 ODIs, 173 wickets) and fast-rising Junaid Khan (48 ODIs, 75 wickets) or are banned for illegal bowling action like ace off-spinner Saeed Ajmal (111 ODIs, 183 wickets) and seasoned Mohammad Hafeez (155 ODIs, 122 wickets).

No wonder Pakistan were blanked in the two-match ODI series in New Zealand recently as the green-shirts’ frail bowling was fully exposed to the Black Caps’ well-organised batting. No encouraging sign for Misbah-ul-Haq and company, indeed, in the forthcoming World Cup.

Now Pakistan’s World Cup pace attack is going to be led by Wahab Riaz, who has seldom been rated as match-winner. However, he has some experience under his belt (47 ODIs, 61 wickets, average 32.09).

Sohail Khan (five ODIs, six wickets) and Ehsan Adil (four ODIs, two wickets) — the other two inexperienced pacers in the World Cup squad — signify weakness and significant inexperience of Pakistan bowling.

A PCB official told Dawn that the team management had recommended four names as possible replacement for Junaid. These included Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rahat and Mohammad Talha.

PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan, according to the same official,approved Rahat as he was not satisfied with the fitness level of Umar and Sohail.

Meanwhile, the PCB official also said the Board would have considered to retain Bilawal in the squad had it failed to get an assurance of a timely visa from the Australian High Commission for the replacement player.

But the Australian High Commissioner, the PCB official added, extending great cooperation assured that the visa to any replacement would be issued within 24 hours after it received his documents. The PCB is expected to submit Rahat’s visa application on Friday.

“Yes, Bhatti could have been asked to stay back if we get a late visa for Rahat as it was not possible for any player to adjust himself so quickly in Australian conditions, because the crunch opening match against India is getting closer (Feb 15),” a key PCB official said.

Expressing concerns over the weakness of Pakistan bowling in the World Cup, the official said: “Yes, the PCB is also worried about the ongoing situation but we can’t do anything at the moment.

“Key members of the team management — captain Misbah-ul-Haq, head coach Waqar Younis and chief selector Moin Khan — all are on one page in taking [the] decisions,” the official claimed.

“Though the PCB urged the team management to consider youngsters like Sadaf Hussain, Sami Aslam and Babar Azam [it seems] they are relying more on tested old cricketers,” said the same official, who looked disturbed over the prevailing situation.

As members of the six-man national selection committee seldom visited the venues to witness domestic matches, they have very little knowledge about the abilities of talented youngsters, a reason the official believed the selectors were relying on players already tested.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2015

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