The Pakistan Cricket Board’s decision to award the central contract to 31-year-old all-rounder Abdul Razzaq is “a backward step”, former chief selector Aamer Sohail has said. “I am very much surprised by that [central contract offer to Razzaq]. The thing is, you keep on hearing about the ‘rebuilding phase’, and then you take a backward step by bringing back a person who you thought would not be in the Pakistani side in the future,” PakPassion quoted Aamer, as saying. Razzaq, who is often admired for his clean-hitting and strokeplay, was considered to be out of the national squad after his lacklustre performance in the World Cup 2011.
Therefore, his inclusion into the list of centrally contracted players came as quite a surprise to many. Elaborating further on the future of the swashbuckling all-rounder, Aamer stated: “What you have to really look into is where you want to play him.” “If you want to again try Razzaq in an ODI or a Test match, then I don’t think he has the required fitness to perform. Maybe you could choose him for T20 but given his track record, he hasn’t been able to consistently bowl a full quota of overs while batting at position seven or eight,” the former batsman added.
