LAHORE, Aug 6: Discarded Test opener Khurram Manzoor along with veteran Younis Khan, Imran Farhat and Faisal Iqbal were named in a 15-member Test squad as the national selection committee on Tuesday announced separate squads for all three formats for the tour of Zimbabwe.
Khurram, 27, is set to end his long three-and-a-half years wait to join national ranks again. The gutsy right-handed opener scored a fighting 77 against Australia in Hobart Test in January 2010, after which he was ignored by selectors apparently for no valid reason. During this period Khurram failed to break into the national team despite scoring heavily in domestic matches.
Khurram replaces Nasir Jamshed, who managed just 51 runs in Pakistan’s 0-3 whitewash in South Africa earlier this year.
The 31-year-old Faisal, possessing a mediocre Test batting average of 26.76 the player has managed in 26 Tests, has been recalled into the Test side, also after more than three-and-a-half years. The right-handed batsman played his last Test against Australia in Sydney in January 2010.
While 82-Test Younis makes a usual comeback in the Test team, the selection of Imran Farhat — a below average performer with the bat in crunch games — raises a million questions, if not more.
In a massive and simply irritating surprise, the 31-year-old Imran having played 40 Tests since making his debut way back in March 2001 and holding a not-so-impressive batting average of 32.00 and with a long string of failures, has yet again been recalled.
In the Test team, wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal and pacer Wahab Riaz have been included in place of Sarfraz Ahmed and Tanvir Ahmed.
Umar Akmal will continue to keep wickets in ODIs and T20s as his elder brother Kamran Akmal once again failed to make any of the squads, while all-rounder Shoaib Malik was also ignored.
The Pakistan squad will leave for Zimbabwe on Aug 19 to play two Tests, three ODIs and a couple of T20s.
Interestingly, former Test captain Moin Khan has been included in the Zimbabwe-bound squad as the team manager in place of Naveed Akram Cheema, who resigned after the end of the last series against the West Indies. Due to some restrictions owing to a recent order by the Islamabad High Court the caretaker set-up decided not to continue with Moin as chief selector and instead appointed him as manager.
Young fast bowler Anwar Ali, meanwhile, has been picked for the ODIs, apparently replacing Wahab. While 16th player of the squad that played recently in the West Indies, wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan Ahmad could not find a place this time. Rizwan remained untested in the West Indies.
Similarly, in the T20 team, talented batsman Shoaib Maqsood is in, while Hammad Azam and Wahab have been dropped.
Squads:
Tests: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Khurram Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Asad Shafiq, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Faisal Iqbal, Adnan Akmal (wicket-keeper), Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Ehsan Adil, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman.
ODIs: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal (wicket-keeper), Umar Amin, Haris Sohail, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Abdul Rehman.
Twenty20s: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal (wicket-keeper), Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Haris Sohail.
Team management:
Moin Khan (manager), Dav Whatmore (head coach), Julien Fountain (fielding coach), Mohammad Akram (bowling coach), Shahid Aslam (assistant manager), Saboor Ahmed (trainer), Dr Riaz Ahmed (physio), Col. (r) Waseem Ahmed Shahid (security manager), Mohammad Talha Ejaz (analyst).
Itinerary:
Aug 19: Departure for Zimbabwe
Aug 23: First Twenty20, Harare
Aug 24: Second Twenty20, Harare
Aug 27: First One-day International, Harare
Aug 29: Second One-day International, Harare
Aug 31: Third One-day International, Harare
Sept 1-5: First Test, Harare
Sept 10-15: Second Test, Bulawayo.
