Pakistan chief selector Haroon Rasheed says that a steady flow of young talent has not only made their job easier but also put pressure on the senior players to perform well.
Former Test batsman Rasheed also made it clear that the selection committee had a clear policy that those seniors who didn’t perform consistently well would be sidelined from the national team in both formats.
“We are looking at the future and at the next World T20 Cup. Our performances in Sri Lanka show that the youngsters are coming up well and that is a very good sign for Pakistan cricket,” he said.
The chief selector said while youngsters in their twenties would now be given proper chances to prove themselves in international cricket seniors in their thirties would have to make an impact in the matches they get.
“We expect the senior players to perform when they play and show more consistency and responsibility like Shoaib Malik has done in Sri Lanka or like Younis Khan did in the third Test,” he noted.
“Any senior player who is not consistently good enough will have to give way for younger players.”
Rasheed was also clear that the selectors wanted to see a turn around in form from the experienced and flamboyant all-rounder, Shahid Afridi who retired from ODIs after the World Cup but now leads the national T20 side.
“We are expecting him to do more and prepare a strong side for the World T20. It may sound hard but we don’t want players playing on reputation alone,” he said.
He noted that the induction of younger players in the ODI and T20 sides had also lifted the fielding standards while there was more zest and energy to win matches.
Pakistan hammered Sri Lanka by 135 runs in the third ODI to take a 2-1 lead in the five match series which Pakistan must win to be in a good position to qualify for the 2017 Champions Trophy.
Asked whether senior batsman Umar Akmal would be considered for the T20 series in Sri Lanka after the selectors dropped him for the ODIs, the chief selector said this would be decided after consulting the T20 captain.
“But I think Umar now needs to decide himself how much focus he is going to give to cricket. How much he is going to change his attitude towards cricket. He now needs to start doing much more and we need to see a hunger in him to play for the national side.”
Good policies , yes players mustn’t be allowed to continue playing on past reputations. The section must be performance past and provincial based. If a player cannot show performance in two successive matches .It’s time to leave .Old or new.
I wish to reiterate what I had previously said but lost to spelling errors . What I said was selection must be based on performance and not reputation alone. Neither selection should be considered on the basis of ethnicity or region. It should be purely on merit. Players should be given two to three matches to play . If not performing , must be removed straight away paving way for others.
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