KARACHI - It has been revealed that the injured Shahid Afridi and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal are among the Pakistan squad for the ninth Asia Cup cricket tournament that begins in Karachi and Lahore from Tuesday.
Saeed, the 30-year-old from Faisalabad, and Sialkot's leg-spinning all-rounder Mansoor Amjad, who took three wickets in an over on his Twenty20 International against Bangladesh here in April, were named in the 15-man squad.
Rookie fast bowler Sohail Khan was not considered after he contracted malaria on Saturday. His absence leaves Pakistan with just four pacemen in Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar and the relatively inexperienced Wahab Riaz.
Experienced Afridi was selected after suffering a wrist injury on Saturday. Chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed claimed that the hard-hitting batsman was fit for the tournament.
From the 16-member squad that went to Bangladesh for the tri-series, which was won by Pakistan, out-of-form wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, Sohail Khan and batsmen Bazid Khan and Naumanullah have been replaced by Sarfraz Ahmed, Saeed and Mansoor.
While announcing the squad, the chief selector said that Saeed was selected after a consensus was developed with Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and coach Geoff Lawson.
“The reason of including Saeed for such an important event is because he is a pure wicket-taking bowler unlike the rest of the slow bowlers in the squad. For many people he is an unknown name, but in domestic cricket he has been a consistent performer for Faisalabad and Khan Research Laboratories. Last season he claimed 50 wickets,” Salahuddin said.
He noted the selection of Saeed would be debated in the cricketing circles, but the selectors were willing to take the risk considering the importance of the tournament.
“Last year the selectors were unfairly criticised for picking Misbah-ul-Haq for the World Twenty20 Championship and leaving behind a batsman of Mohammad Yousuf's calibre. Misbah vindicated our faith in his ability by becoming one of the heroes of the tournament,” the official pointed out. “Misbah was 33 when we decided to recall him last year, but look how he had been playing since then.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik indicated on Sunday that he would be regularly bowling during the Asia Cup that starts from Tuesday.
Malik, who has been severely criticised for not using himself as a bowler since he assumed the captaincy of the national side last year, told the pre-tournament media conference at the National Stadium that he was fit enough to bowl the full quota of his off-spinners.
“The reason not bowling in the past few months was that I had been suffering from a sore shoulder. But now I feel fully recovered and fit enough to utilize myself as a bowler in this tournament,” Malik said.
He said the forthcoming tournament is important from Pakistan's point of view because the team was in high spirits after winning the tri-series in Bangladesh.
“Obviously, we are taking Asia Cup very seriously not because we are the hosts, but we want to carry the momentum forward after our victory in Dhaka final last week,” Malik said.
