Pakistan squad to be named soon

LAHORE Pakistan national cricket selection committee has selected the squad for Bangladesh tour but announce it after the approval of PCB Chief Zaka Ashraf, who is presently in Dubai, after his return in couple of days. No major change has been made in the squad and the selection committee agreed to retain the same squad but did not announce the same and now it will be announced after the end of the third one-day. Ilyas said the selectors had decided to hold back the announcement as they wanted to wait till the end of the ongoing one-day series against Sri Lanka in the UAE. "Basically we don't want players to be complacent if we announce the touring squad now. There is nothing wrong in waiting a bit and then announcing the squad," Illyas said. Pakistan is due to tour Bangladesh after a gap of nearly 10 years for a Test, three ODIs and a Twenty20 match. Meanwhile, a source revealed that the selectors were not happy with the pressure being exerted by some governing board members to have players of their region picked in the squad for the Bangladesh tour. But a well-informed source confirmed that the delay had also occurred because some members of the PCB governing board want inclusion of their regions players, who had performed superbly in the recently-concluded Saarc Under-25 T20 Cup, should be inducted into the side as the series against Bangladesh would not be a tough one. "For example Shakil Sheikh who is a governing board member from Islamabad and Rawalpindi wants all-rounder Umar Amin and dashing opener Awais Zias inclusion in the squad for the limited-over matches in Bangladesh," the source said. He said similarly Aamir Nawab, who heads the Abbotabad region and represents it on the PCB, wants leg-spinner Yasir Shah in the team. Awais Zia and Umar Amin performed well in the Saarc tournament that Pakistan won and have also performed well in the domestic cricket recently. Awais Zia had scored two back-to-back centuries and made 350 plus runs in the Saarc tournament and deserve a place in the final playing XI. Orthodox spinner Raza Hassan has also performed well during the tournament and deserved a place in playing XI and be inducted in place of Abdul Rehman who is on the end of his career. Raza inclusion will also prove beneficial for Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup. On the other hand, the min objection of interim chief selector M Ilyas is that the selectors should be allowed to work independently to select the best possible squad, the source added. Leg-spinner, Yasir Shah went with the senior team to Zimbabwe in September but did not impress in the matches he played. "Ilyas is a straight forward person and is not happy with this interference and is waiting to talk to Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Zaka Ashraf," another source said. He said the selectors were not in favour of making changes in the squad that was already playing against Sri Lanka. "The feeling is that the Bangladesh series should be used as a springboard to give players confidence for next year's series against England in the UAE," the source said. The Pakistan squad will leave directly from Dubai for Dhaka after completing their series against Sri Lanka next week.