Chief selector Mohsin Khan has said that the tour of Zimbabwe is an opportunity for the youngsters to perform and earn a place in the side. “Zimbabwe cannot be taken lightly and our squad was picked with full respect for the opponents,” Mohsin was quoted as saying by Pakpassion.net.
“There was never any real consideration for sending an entirely experimental squad made up of youngsters and players with little or no international experience. With international cricket not returning to Pakistan yet, we seem to have a reduced number of international fixtures and therefore we have less opportunity to experiment,” Mohsin said.
“We are trying to create a group of responsible batsmen to back up the experienced batsmen and the likes of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq are definitely in that mould. Umar Akmal is another young exciting batsman who I feel has a bright future. The onus now on the selectors is to ensure that we have enough middle-order backup so that when the two senior batsmen do eventually call it a day, then there are able replacements,” Khan added.
On the question of preferring Adnan Akmal over Sarfaraz Ahmed and Muhammad Salman he said, “Adnan was selected because he was our first choice but after some confusion, Salman went to the West Indies. That is history now and after a positive meeting with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt, that matter was resolved amicably and the confusion cleared up. We also have another bright wicketkeeping prospect in Sarfraz Ahmed who we have been named among the standby players,” he added.
He also said that Rameez Raja Junior has been given a perfect opportunity. “We felt that the tour of Zimbabwe was the ideal time to give Rameez a chance in international cricket. Rameez is a cricketer who also fields well and this is something that my colleagues in the selection committee and I have really focused upon.” The tour will begin from August 28 and will consist of a test, three ODIs and two T20 matches.
