Pakistan national selectors will have a tough job at hand when they sit tomorrow to pick the national cricket squad for the upcoming “home” series against South Africa in United Arab Emirates (UAE), commencing on October 14.
Cricket fans, former players and experts have been extremely critical of the team management including the head coach Dav Whatmore, Test and One Day International (ODI) captain Misbah-ul-Haq and Twenty20 skipper Mohammad Hafeez, as well as the selectors after Pakistan lost a One-day and a Test match to Zimbabwe in Harare recently.
“For the national selectors it is a dicey situation because they don’t want to take too many risks against the world’s top Test team, South Africa, even though conditions in UAE are expected to favour Pakistan,” a well informed source said.
The caretaker chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sethi has spent a busy time this week holding meetings with Whatmore, Misbah and Moin Khan, the team manager for Zimbabwe tour.
Sethi has held detailed discussions with Whatmore, Misbah and Moin to find out the reasons for Pakistan’s recent lackluster performances. He is a worried man because the pressure is growing for Pakistan cricket team to move forward with new players.
“There have also been speculations about Misbah, Whatmore and Hafeez not giving fair chances to the players,” the source said.
However, it was more or less clear that the selection committee would retain Misbah as the captain of both the Test and ODI sides.
The source said the selectors were likely to drop Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali and include Umar Amin, Imran Farhat and Haris Sohail in the Test squad.
Although they are uncertain about including too many new players.
That will be the best decision if they drop Hafeez from the test side. He does not have the techniques to play test cricket. Pakistan does not need a player who can score 10 runs and bowl 10 overs. Pakistan needs a player who can convert a start into a considerable individual score. The number of chances these selectors have given to Hafeez will make Obama a better cricketer than Hafeez. Haris Suhail should be given a chance.
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