KARACHI: Former Test fast bowler Jalaluddin on Sunday took a swipe at the newly-constituted selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for overlooking certain factors while picking squads for the upcoming Bangladesh tour.

In a hard-hitting interview, the outspoken Jalaluddin demanded of the Haroon Rasheed-led panel to give logic and criteria over selection of several players while announcing the squads last Friday.

“As far as I know the announcement of three squads has exposed capability of the selection committee as teams selected have no logic and criteria/policy explanation. Nothing is going to change in Pakistan cricket and the team’s performances,” he told Dawn.

Jalaluddin queried the selection of Saeed Ajmal, who was banned for suspect bowling action last year before it was cleared in January.

“Have they [the selectors] assessed Saeed after action modification whether he has the same effectiveness to perform at the international level? If he doesn’t performs then who will take the responsibililty for this rash decision.”

Jalaluddin, the first man to take a hat-trick in One-day Internationals, was surprised at the omission of Junaid Khan from the ODI squad, while expressing his dismay at Ehsan Ali’s inclusion.

“Junaid was selected for the World Cup but injury forced him out of the team. But now he is fit and selected for Test and T20 squads. What is the reason for his ODI exclusion and why Ehsan is the part of this squad after an indifferent World Cup,” he asked.

Jalaluddin was of the view that the selectors have taken harsh steps by excluding Umar Akmal for both limited-overs squads and confining Ahmed Shehzad only to the T20 format.

“I fail to understand the illogical step of the selectors by dropping Umar Akmal altogether and picking Shehzad just for one format. Can they explain the specific reasons to drop Shehzad from Test and ODI squads?

“In my opinion there are only three players in the Pakistan side who follow and apply modern formula of maintaining a decent strike rate; Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad. Dropping Shehzad especially from the ODI team is unjust for Pakistan cricket.

“Umar has been dropped from all three formats due to attitude and discipline. But he is well recognised in all cricket quarters that he has the talent and potential to perform at the top level.

“And if he couldn’t deliver at the World Cup, the responsibility not only lies with the player but also the team management, particularly the head coach [Waqar Younis] who could not utilise his skills as a coach to extract performance from Umar and Shehzad too. I think just like the players, they also failed and should be punished accordingly,” he added.

At the same time, Jalaluddin, who is a highly-qualified coach, asked Haroon and company to explain the inclusion of Sohaib Maqsood despite a below average World Cup just like Umar Akmal.

Commenting on the selection of uncapped duo of Sami Aslam, 19, and Babar Azam, he believed the former has been ‘highly-rated’ by the selectors but praised them for inducting the 20-year-old Babar.

“The inclusion of Sami in Test and ODI teams needs to clarified. The selectors have already rated the youngster high by including for two formats. Do the selectors think that he [Sami] has the ability and talent to perform at the top level?

“Although I’m for Babar’s selection but he has been dubbed as a Test player. Can the selectors explain the attributes of a player who is tagged as a Test player and not good enough for the ODIs? In my opinion Babar is a more compact player in terms of technique, option of shots, fitness and game sense as compared to Sami. And if Sami has been picked for two formats then Babar should be also in somewhere as well.”

While terming the recalling of Asad Shafiq, Zulfiqar Babar, Fawad Alam and Umar Gul as sensible, Jalaluddin expressed his indignation over the criteria for Mohammad Hafeez’s selection in the Test side.

He further pointed out that newcomers such as Mukhtar Ahmed, Saad Nasim and Mohammad Rizwan are selected just to make up the numbers since the selectors have not given any explanation regarding their potential, role and the requirement of the national team.

“This is another example of picking those who done well in domestic cricket and then discard them without giving proper opportunities. Where are Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Nasir Jamshed, Umar Amin, Mohammad Imran Khan and Adnan Akmal now? Have they been discarded for good or advised to improve their game before they are reconsider for selection.” he contended.

Meanwhile, Jalaluddin urged the powers-that-be to penalise the team management which failed to deliver in recent World Cup. “It was because of some of the individuals who were the reason of Pakistan well below expectations.

“The graph [of Pakistan cricket] has gone down alarmingly. A number of people are attached in the PCB for the last decade in different roles but have not delivered. Those at the helm of affairs need be brought in the public court for accountability. Because they are ones because of whom Pakistan cricket has suffered irreparable damage,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2015

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