LAHORE, May 7: Uncapped bastman Fawad Alam and pace bowler Najaf Shah were named on Monday in a 16-man Pakistan squad for the forthcoming three-match one-day series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi.
The new national selection committee, headed by Salahuddin Ahmed, retained nine members of the World Cup squad while recalling Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman and Mohammad Asif, the last named being appointed the vice-captain to Shoaib Malik.
Left-handed all-rounder Fawad, 22, and Najaf, the 23-year-old left-arm paceman, were rewarded on Monday for their consistent show in domestic season as well as their impressive performance on tour of Bangladesh with the Pakistan Academy side last month.
Skipper Shoaib Malik, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul and Rao Iftikhar - all members of the Pakistan World Cup side that was knocked out in the first round – have been retained.
Those who have been sidelined for either their county commitments or poor form include former vice captain Younis Khan, leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, all-rounders Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Yasir Arafat and Azhar Mahmood.
Unveiling the squad before a crowded press conference on Monday, chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said the focus was on the future and therefore some youngsters had been inducted to provide them with the chance to show their mettle at international level.
“We will give more chances to youngsters in future in order to groom players for the next World Cup,” Salahuddin said. "In first phase we have included two promising youngsters, Fawad Alam and Najaf Shah, after considering their performance on the recent tour of Bangladesh as well as in domestic cricket," he added.
To a query regarding the omission of Imran Farhat, who was declared best batsman in the Pentangular Cup and Patron's Trophy last season, Salahuddin explained that the opener’s performance was better in the longer-version of the game and on Monday, the selectors picked up a squad for one-day game.
“We had Imran Farhat in mind, but in the end we went for Mohammad Hafeez who is a good off-spinner, fielder and has better batting technique,” he said. “Had we judged Hafeez’s performance from only one match against Ireland in World Cup, then many senior players would not have found place in the team,” he said.
Justifying the inclusion of Imran Nazir, the chief selector said his last innings was 160 against Zimbabwe in the World Cup and that paved the way for his selection. “We couldn’t have dropped Imran Nazir since his last performance was excellent,” he explained.
He said all six players picked as reserves, showed good performance in the training camp and they would also be considered in case of injury to a regular player. He claimed that it was the best-possible selection from the available lot.
Asked why did the selectors name a 16-member team instead of 15, Salahuddin, pointed out that originally it had been decided that a 16-member squad would be picked and after consulting the PCB chairman, Dr Nasim Ashraf, the selectors decided to stick with it.
The three-match series commences from May 18 with the remaining two matches scheduled for May 20 and May 22.
Squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Mohammad Asif (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Najaf Shah, Rao Iftikhar.
Reserves: Imran Farhat, Mohammad Irshad, Abdul Rauf, Sarfraz Ahmed, Naved Latif, Tahir Khan.