LAHORE: Bilawal Bhatti, who was selected only for the two-match One-day International series against New Zealand in place of injured Junaid Khan, is likely to be retained in the Pakistan squad for the World Cup.

The all-rounder on Wednesday reached Sydney, Australia, with the Pakistan squad after playing the matches in Wellington and Napier, which the Kiwis won.

His dismal figures of 93 runs in 10 overs without any success in the second match are one of the reasons of Pakistan’s defeat.

But as PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has directed, the team management is not going to take any decision about replacing any player in haste.

Chief selector Moin Khan, who is travelling with the Pakistan squad, is to take a decision in this regard. There are speculations for inclusion of any of the following — Sohail Tanvir, Rahat Ali, Umar Gul or Sadaf Hussain — in the squad.

But Bilawal’s travel to Australia with the squad has made him one of the candidates for World Cup selection.

The team management is likely to take a final decision in this regard in next couple of days.

Besides the New Zealand ODIs, Pakistan also lost two practice matches against second string sides of New Zealand which was considered a blessing in disguise by Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis.

He said Pakistan would be playing better if there would be no favourites tag on them.

Pakistan did not test its frontline bowlers like Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan and leg-spinner Yasir Shah against New Zealand.

Though media has reported that Wahab and Sohail are facing minor injuries, the PCB has issued no official statement in this regard.

Published in Dawn February 5th , 2015

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