56
The exclusion of 32-year-old Fawad Alam — who has a first-class batting average of over 55 — from the Test squad for the England and Ireland tour announced on Sunday left Twitter users and sports journalists in Pakistan searching for answers.
Alam, among the 25 players called up for the training camp recently held in Lahore, scored an impressive 19 in the Yo-Yo Endurance Test, ahead of skipper Sarfraz and much younger players Hassan Ali, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman.
However, he was ignored while a number of younger batsmen including Saad Ali, Imamul Haq and Usman Salahuddin made the cut.
Suo motu to bring Fawad back
While some thought only a suo motu by the chief justice could bring him back, others expressed surprise at the inclusion of four openers.
Domestic record
Some sports analysts also took the opportunity to point to his performances in the domestic circuit.
Most Twitter users criticised the selection of Saad Ali — Karachi based upper order batsman who was the highest run-scorer in last year's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy — and Chief Selector Inzamamul Haq's nephew Imamul Haq, both of whom have an average much less than Fawad's in the domestic circuit.
Despite it being one of his worse seasons in the domestic circuit, Fawad was the sixth highest run-scorer of the tournament with 570 runs at an average just above 40.
Meanwhile, sports journalist Zainab Abbas claimed the selectors had a choice between Fawad and Ali and decided to go with the latter.
