ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector, head coach and batting consultant Misbah-ul-Haq has announced 16-member Pakistan squad for the upcoming Bangladesh Test at Pindi Cricket Stadium form February 7 to 11.
It was expected that Misbah would learn from past mistakes and provide justice to the players, who were long ignored, but to utter surprise, the chief selector once again didn’t miss a chance of accommodating his blue-eyed players and ignoring the top performers of domestic cricket.
Misbah must inform the masses that on what grounds, performances and reasons, Usman Khan Shinwari was dropped.
On what grounds super flop like Faheem Ashraf has made yet another comeback in the Test squad. He is a proven failure as whenever and wherever he was give chance, he proved that he is not an international stuff.
How many chances Misbah wants to give Faheem, who belongs to Faisalabad Region? Misbah showered countless blessings on SNGPL and Faisalabad Region players, while he also accommodated all his near and dear ones in different capacities with the six teams.
At one end, the PCB has shown the doors to Master coaches and top professionals but on the other hand, highly unqualified Misbah and others were handed important assignments.
Why is such nepotism being allowed by the PCB and why justice is being denied to top performers? Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Saddaf Shah, Tabish Khan and other players, who are proven stuff and Pakistan team badly needs them, but Misbah is not ready to think beyond few certain individuals.
Either Misbah and the PCB should made it clear to all that they are not in their plans, no matter how much they perform, or else these talented players must be given due chance.
Fawad Alam is another classic example of PCB’s harsh treatment, despite scoring loads of runs and giving out their best, but even then he was denied a place in the national team against Sri Lanka in both Test matches and highly flopped Haris Sohail managed to get nod of approval.
There is every possibility that despite getting selected in 16-memebr squad, Fawad may keep warming the bench or perform water supplying duties.
Same is the case with Imran Khan Senior and blue-eyed Muhammad Rizwan, who continue to enjoy favours of the selectors one after another. It was high-time Misbah should have given chance to Kamran Akmal, who is a proven stuff and has been ignored since long, but he wasn’t provided justice again.
Another shocking inclusion in the squad is off spinner Bilal Asif, who had suspected bowling action and was reported in the past too. If only domestic cricket is the criteria of selection in the national squad, then why Tabish Khan has long been overlooked despite taking hundreds of wickets at domestic level.
It is ICC Test Championship points on the line and it is true that Bangladesh team is weak in the absence of star all-rounder Shakib-ul-Hasan, but they are still more than capable of inflicting huge damages on Misbah and his announced squad.
Usman Qadir was included in the Australian touring party for T20 Internationals, but he was never given a due chance and same happened again as he was included in the T20 squad against Bangladesh in Lahore last month, but once again, he was not considered for the playing XI. For how long the PCB will continue to settle scores with legendry Abdul Qadir, even after his death.
It is high time when PCB Patron Imran Khan, who always raised voice of right man for the right job, even couldn’t provide justice to the deserving players.
Why can’t he see how much injustice is being done to the future of Pakistan cricket. The PM is only ray of hope for the genuine players, who are looking at him with the hope that they will get justice.