LAHORE: The newly-appoin­ted national selection committee, headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq, on Monday upheld the merit and displayed a lot of maturity by showing the door to undisciplined cricketers Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal besides giving rest to ex-T20 skipper Shahid Afridi as it named 36 probables for the cricket camp and 24 for the ‘A’ team training here on Monday.

The camp is scheduled to be held in Abbottabad from May 14 to June 4, under the supervision of Army trainers while the date and venue for the ‘A’ camp is yet to be decided.

All the probables will also go through fitness test at the NCA from May 8 to 12. After the camp, the boys will take two-week rest and soon afterwards, the Pakistan squad will be named for the tour of England scheduled to start from early July.

Addressing a crowded press conference, Inzamam said: “I went through the reports of previous head coach and the selection committee and met other stakeholders and spoke to them at length. After going through all this process, our selection committee decided to give top priority to discipline and axe Ahmed and Umar.

“Though the PCB can guide us, the selection committee is totally independent and it will take its decisions independently, giving top priority to discipline as Pakistan cricket cannot afford erratic behaviours of players any further,” said the former Pakistan captain.

Asked why he gave weightage to the reports of previous head coach and selectors, Inzamam said: “No doubt, Waqar Younis was a good coach and similarly Haroon Rasheed was also a good chief selector and they tried their level best to do better work for Pakistan cricket. But like any human being, they also made mistakes and I can commit errors too.”

However, when queried whether he has been influenced by a written report from the previous team management advising the cricket board to keep Afridi, Umar and Ahmed away from the national team to bring improvement in Pakistan team performance, Inzamam denied any such thing and claimed that Afridi has only been given some rest as there were hardly any T20 matches lined up on the forthcoming tours.

Afridi rested as selectors name probables for training camps

“This year Pakistan will play just four T20 matches and next year only six, so it is better to give Afridi some rest and to give chance to some youngsters to show their mettle,” said the former batsman.

Speaking about the ‘A’ team selection, Inzamam emphasised that the selectors have decided not to select cricketers over 30 years of age who have already been provided four to five chances at top level. “We have decided to give youngsters the chance to display their skills and temperament.”

To a question regarding Younis Khan’s involvement in a recent incident of indiscipline, Inzamam admitted that though the seasoned batsman did make a wrong move at the Pakistan Cup, the matter has been resolved after the umpire penalised him and the PCB accepted his apology. “Also, that matter does not fall in my domain,” clarified Inzamam. “However, I assure you that if any such matter falls in my domain, I will definitely take action.”

He added that the just-concluded Pakistan Cup in Faisalabad has helped him assess the performance of quite a few players and Fakhar Zaman, Zohaib Khan and Usama Mir were prominent among those who impressed him.

He admitted that some fast bowlers, picked up for the camp were not fully fit while some bowlers from the ‘A’ list could also be called for the cricket camp.

Answering a sensitive question about nephew Imam-ul-Haq who has been left out of the probables, Inzamam said he followed his first-class performance which was not great so he did not get picked. “But I must also make it clear here that I will do my best to uphold merit and will neither do any favours nor any injustice to anyone.”

Replying to queries about not inviting the tainted duo of Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif to the camp, Inzamam said both the players were yet to play four-day cricket at domestic level after which they could be preferred.

“As both have remained away from competitive cricket for five to six years and just played one-day cricket, we need more time to assess their performance. They should play at least one four-day tournament to prove their fitness and form,” he said.

Asked how difficult he found his job of selecting the players, Inzamam said: “When I was playing cricket, I had to take care of myself, when I was captain I had to take care of 11 players and when I worked as coach with the Afghanistan team, I had to take care of all the 20 members of the national team and now as chief selector I have to take care of some 150 players, so with the passage of time the responsibility has been increasing.”

Meanwhile, the selectors have named four players who are not fully fit and will only be included in the camp after clearing the fitness test in Lahore. That include opener Mohammad Hafeez, Haris Sohail, Rahat Ali and Imad Wasim.

Surprisingly, the selection committee did not consider Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim as all-rounders which is why their names are listed as middle-order batsman and spinner, respectively. Only two all-rounders have been named in the list — Anwar Ali and Bilawal Bhatti.

The selectors also decided to recall Adnan Akmal as wicketkeeper among the probables.

Youngsters such as Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Babar Azam, fast bowler Hasan Ali, spinners Mohammad Asghar and Bilal Asif have also been named among the probables as the selectors appear quite keen to give them regular chances in the future to play for Pakistan.

Probables for Pakistan training camp:

Opening batsmen: Mohammad Hafeez (subject to fitness), Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azhar Ali, Sharjeel Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood.

Middle-order batsmen: Younis Khan, Misbahul Haq, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail (subject to fitness), Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Asif Zakir, Abid Ali.

All-rounders: Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti.

Fast bowlers: Mohammad Aamir, Rahat Ali (subject to fitness), Imran Khan, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Hasan Ali.

Wicket-keepers: Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Adnan Akmal.

Spinners: Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar, Imad Wasim (subject to fitness), Bilal Asif, Zohaib Khan.

‘A’ team probables:

Opening batsmen: Fakhar Zaman, Jahid Ali, Mohammad Waqas, Zain Abbas, Israrullah.

Middle-order batsmen: Umar Amin, Abdul Rehman Muzammil, Saud Shakil, Umer Siddiqi (subject to fitness).

All-rounder: Mohammad Nawaz, Fahim Ashraf, Aamir Yamin.

Fast bowlers: Mohammad Abbas, Azizullah, Mir Hamza, Ahmed Jamal, Ziaul Haq, Ammad Butt.

Wicket-keepers: Saifullah Bangash, M. Hassan.

Spinners: Osama Mir, Shadab Khan (U-19), Hayatullah (U-19), Zafar Gohar.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd , 2016