KARACHI: The chief selector of national cricket team, Haroon Rasheed, shrugged off any chances of pacer Muhammad Amir's early return to international cricket, adding that the 23-year-old still has a long way to go until his comeback.
Haroon said Amir has not played enough in the domestic circuit since his return to the cricketing scene and that the selectors prefer to monitor him properly before his return can be considered.
The chief selector said that it was too early to think about Amir's return to the international arena.
“Amir has to play more of first-class and domestic cricket for the selectors to consider his selection for international cricket,” he said.
Speaking about speculations that the Pakistan Cricket Board was not happy about the performances of T20 captain Shahid Afridi, Haroon said that the selectors have full faith in the country's star all-rounder.
Pakistan won the recently concluded T20 series against Zimbabwe with Afridi scoring just two runs in each match.
He bowled three overs for 23 runs in the first T20 and went wicket-less while in the second T20 Afridi bowled four overs giving away 26 runs without taking any wicket.
However according to media reports, the PCB and coach Waqar Younis were worried over Afridi's form as he performed very poorly in the recent T20 series and wanted him to gain rhythm prior to the T20 World Cup next year.
Brushing aside all such reports, Haroon said neither the PCB nor the coach is concerned about Afridi's form.
“There is nothing in our minds about Afridi's form. Instead the board is looking up to the youngsters at the moment,” he said.
He said PCB is overwhelmed with the current performance of the youngsters in the team.
“Imad Wasim's performance in the T20s was brilliant,” he said adding it is all happening under Afridi's captaincy.
Haroon said it is true that Afridi didn't do well in the T20s but there are always ups and downs in a player's career.
“I am sure he will do well in the T20 World Cup,” he said.
