LAHORE: While a number of deserving players are out, many undeserving ones have been included in the list of probables called for the Central Punjab’s Under-19 trials at the LCCA Ground here on Sept 14 and 15.

A total of 51 players are invited to select the Central Punjab squad for the National Junior Cricket Championships. The trials of other regions are also being held — Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Northern — on different dates and cities until Sept 19.

The Central Punjab probables show up many surprises with nearly half of them — 24 — are from Lahore, while Faisalabad, Sialkot, Gujranwala, Narowal, Gujrat, Layyah, Sargodha, Bhakkar, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad, Mianwali districts have little representation.

The players, who have never played in any PCB competitions in the past, are among the probables. The list includes Lahore’s quartet of Ahmed Sattar, Khurram Riaz, Mohammad Subhan and Mudassar Gohar with last name being younger brother of Pakistan international Zafar Gohar.

Moreover, Adnan Jan, also from Lahore, is a left-arm-spinner and he has taken seven wickets in the 2019 season but he has been included in the list of wicket keepers in which Lahore’s Hasnain Ali is the only other candidate. So if Adnan doesn’t make it to the final squad as a spinner he is likely to find himself selected as the second wicket-keeper!

Kabir Ahmed, selected as a batsman in the list, has reportedly gone to Afghanistan some three years ago after playing in the under-16 event. Left-arm-spinner Mohammad Israr, who took just three wickets in the Inter-district tournament last year for East Zone, is selected while off-spinner Yasin Khan couldn’t get a place despite claiming six wickets.

Another surprise induction is that of Anas Waheed despite picking up only two wickets in Inter-district under-19 event last year.

Yet another glaring inclusion is Lahore spinner Mohsin Irshad, who was deemed to be over-aged last year by the PCB, while Rameez Imran, also from Lahore, is said to be nephew of veteran Pakistan batsman Mohammad Hafeez. He is also included in the list of spinners despite playing only two matches in under-16 regional event in 2017.

Moreover, another former Pakistan former player Akram Raza, who is also the Central Punjab’s Second-XI head coach has got his son Noman Akram included in the list without playing any PCB tournament.

Among those neglected in spite of giving good performances are all-rounder Hasnat Abbas, who scored 285 runs and took 30 wickets with his leg-spinners in the regional under-16 tournament regional cricket and went on to represent Pakistan team in that age group.

Another deserving case is that of wicket-keeper Shahwaiz Irfan, who played the Under-16 Pentangular Cup and regional cricket. Also missing is all-rounder Osama Zahid, who played for Central Punjab under-16 last year. Two others absentees are left-arm paceman Mohammad Ibrar and batsman Usman Nadeem after both of them featured in the Under-16 Pentangular Cup U-16 in the past.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2020