Pakistani selectors on May 2 dropped leg-spinner Usama Mir for the T20 series in Ireland and England while recalling fast bowler Haris Rauf.
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Selectors Muhammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz told a media conference that Pakistan’s World Cup squad would be picked based on the performances of the matches against Ireland and England.
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The three-match series in Ireland begins May 10 before Pakistan move to England for four games from May 22.
“They are a few fitness issues with Muhammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Azam Khan and Irfan Khan Niazi but there has been a significant improvement in their fitness and we are confident they will play in the coming matches,” Wahab said.
Wahab also justified recalling pacer Hasan Ali for the coming tour and said that he was already under consideration and basically he is a back up for Haris.
“If Haris is fit and performs well in coming matches he is our first choice. He has started bowling but if he doesn’t come through we have Hasan Ali.” Haris got unfit during the initial stages of Pakistan Super League and has not played since February.
Razzaq said that leg-spinner Usama has been dropped since Pakistan already has Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed in the squad.
Yousuf insisted that the recent 2-2 result in the T20 series against a depleted New Zealand outfit was not a bad one.
“It is true that New Zealand were missing some main players but it is also for the first time that we also fully implemented the rotation policy by trying out new players in the series,” he said.
Yousuf also said that they were pushing the players to be more innovative in their playing their shots and admitted that some players came up short on that front.
“Look unless we are not ready to accept failure and move our batters will never be ready to adopt innovative stroke play,” he said.
Wahab also said that they had spoken with the new head coach Gary Kirsten and they all agreed that first and foremost they had to remove the insecurity and fear of failure from the minds of the players.
“Our aim is to give them an environment where they can give their beat and play fearlessly.” Wahab also said that selecting the playing eleven would remain the domain of the captain and the selectors would not interfere in that area.
The selectors also defended Babar Azam’s ability as a captain.
“No one is a born captain but from what we saw in the New Zealand (NZ) series there was improvement in his leadership and we are hopeful he will become better and he has captaincy experience. We want to remain on the same page with him,” Razzaq said.
Squads: Babar Azam (Captain), Muhammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Irfan Khan Niazi, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Muhammad Amir, Imad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Abbas Afridi and Agha Ali Salman.
