LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s newly-appointed chief selector Monday dropped stars like Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal on disciplinary grounds while axed Shahid Afridi to give chance to the youngsters for England tour.
When Inzamam-ul-Haq was appointed as chief selector, there were plenty of expectations from him to infuse freshness into the setup. The former skipper’s first major decision is a pretty strong one with the likes of Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi excluded from contention for the upcoming tour to England.
While the lack of discipline was cited as the reason behind the ouster of both Shehzad and Akmal, the selection committee decided to do away with Afridi because Pakistan are scheduled to play only a solitary Twenty20 international in their trip.
Speaking at the press conference here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday, Inzamam said: “First of all, the selection committee is totally independent. The PCB can guide us but even then selection committee will take its own decisions. I have seen the previous reports of coach, selection committee and have also talked to other stakeholders of the team.
"So the selection committee has decided that if there's a problem of discipline, we have to take a step so it's more on discipline grounds than performance. If we see any problem in discipline this selection committee will take tough decisions," he added.
Speaking about axing Ahmed Shehzad and Umar Akmal, Inzamam said: “Both Shehzad and Akmal have not been included in the training camp taking into view their past disciplinary record. Neither is their discipline good nor their recent performances consistent and impressive. The selection committee will not compromise on discipline.”
About Afridi, who had announced retirement from T20 captaincy and willing to play as T20 player, the chief selector said he needed to perform in domestic matches. "Since we are playing only four Twenty20 matches this year, we want to give new players a chance, and that will also allow Afridi to rest and perform in domestic matches."
The chief selector named 35 probables for a boot camp which will be held at the Kakul Military Academy in Abbottabad from May 14 to June 4 to prepare for the tour of England that includes four Tests, five ODIs and a T20I. He also named 25 probables for Pakistan A's tour of England scheduled from June 23 to July 25. A few players, including M Hafeez, Imad Wasim and Rahat Ali, were included in the camp subject to proving their fitness.
"The reports I am getting is that there are some players whose fitness is not good or they are not able to run - that included players like M Hafeez, Imad Wasim and Rahat Ali. I want to see the fitness of the players myself and thereafter, we will decide," Inzamam asserted.
He said that the selection committee had also laid out a policy of only picking players aged 30 or less in the A team. The rule has quashed the Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq's intention of touring England with the A team ahead of the senior team's tour, since he has only recently recovered from a calf strain. "We have a policy that nobody above 30 will be selected for Pakistan A. If he has a good performance in first class cricket and we think he is a good player, we will send him to Pakistan camp so that he can play for Pakistan. The whole selection committee thinks that young players, who have done well in first class cricket, should be promoted. We won't consider players who have gone on more than 4-5 Pakistan A tours. We will be tough on discipline," he added.
Imam-ul-Haq recently played well in the Pakistan Cup and scored a century in his first game but didn’t find a place either in the Pakistan training camp or among the Pakistan A probables. Replying to a query regarding dropping his nephew Imam-ul-Haq, Inzamam said: “I am not going to give any favour and will also not do any injustice. I have seen Imam-ul-Haq’s first class record which was not up-to-the-mark so that’s why he was not selected. We have given a pool of 60 players and we are going to see the fitness level of these players. Other players could also be considered, if they give good performances."
About Salman Butt, Inzamam said the opening batsman had not played enough cricket since returning from his spot-fixing ban to make a case for selection. "Salman Butt is a very good player but he hasn't played four-day games as yet so we need to assess him in longer formats before selecting him.”
PROBABLES FOR TRAINING CAMP: M Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azhar Ali, Sharjeel Khan, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Asif Zakir, Anwar Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, M Aamir, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Hasan Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed, M Rizwan, Adnan Akmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, M Asgher, Imad Wasim, Bilal Asif and Zohaib Khan.
PROBABLES FOR A team TOUR OF ENGLAND: Fakhar Zaman, Jihad Ali, M Waqas, Zain Abbas, Israrullah, Umar Amin, Abdul Rehman Muzammil, Saud Shakil, Abid Ali, Umar Siddique, M Nawaz, Fahim Ashraf, Amir Yamin, M Abbas, Azizullah, Mir Hamza, Ahmed Jamal, Imad Butt, Ziaul Haq, Saifullah Bangash, M Hasan, Usama Mir, Shadab Khan, Hidayatullah and Zafar Gohar.