LAHORE: Hailing the performance of the natio­nal team which registered a 2-0 clean sweep in the Test series in Sri Lanka on Thur­s­day, former chief sele­ctor Haroon Rasheed termed it the first step towards a bright future of Pakistan cricket, provided his successor uses the available pool of players properly.

“The positive aspect of Pakistan’s Test series victory is that it came in Sri Lanka and without any major batting contribution from [captain] Babar Azam, which indicate that this team contains several match-winners,” former Test cricketer Haroon, who also selected Pakistan Shaheens team which won the Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka earlier this month after outplaying arch-rivals India by 128 runs in the final, told Dawn on Thursday.

“After fine performances by the senior [Test] team and Shaheens in Sri Lanka and the U-19 team’s show against Bangladesh, the PCB now has a nucleus of 50-55 players [to choose from],” the former batter added.

“However, the primary responsibility of making sure the available talent is not wasted will be on the shoulders of the next selection committee.”

Pakistan won the first Test in Galle by four wickets before recording a magnificent inning and 222 runs triumph in the second Test in Colombo in four days on Thursday, thanks to a career-best seven-wicket show from left-arm orthodox spinner Nauman Ali.

Haroon said the spin trio of Nauman, Abrar Ahmad and part-timer Salman Ali Agha proved more effective as compared to Sri Lankan’s spin attack.

He also appreciated the nice performances in Sri Lanka by upcoming batters including Saud Shakeel, Salaman Ali Agha and Abdullah Shafique, who excelled when Babar struggled.

With this victory, Pakis­tan may get top position in the ICC Test Champion­ship for 2023-24, with the first round in progress.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2023