Arrogance, poor form cost Razzaq heavily

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Abdul Razzaq
Pakistan’s seasoned all-rounder Abdul Razzaq will be cursing himself for trying to take undue advantage of his seniority as he was dropped from the touring squad for England after being selected in the final sixteen member squad.

‘The News’ has learnt that the national selection committee headed by Aamer Sohail and including Saleem Yousaf, Shoaib Muhammad, Shafiq Ahmed and Farukh Zaman had picked Razzaq in the sixteen-member squad although he rather arrogantly told them he would only be able to join the team in England just three days before the start of the One-day International series.

Sources say that Razzaq, who is presently playing for Middlesex in England, had informed the Board and selectors that he would not be available for the side matches leading up to the international series as he was busy with his county commitments.

Despite such an arrogant attitude, the selectors decided to retain Razzaq in the sixteen-member squad for the England tour because he had also joined the team just two days before the start of the triangular series in Sri Lanka, flying in directly from England. And the player who was not in the touring squad was the uncapped all-rounder Bilal Asad.

It is learnt that all the five selectors had signed and finalised the final 16-member squad and two of them - Shafiq and Farukh - had already left for home when it was decided to drop Razzaq and include Bilal Asad.

Without going into the circumstances which led to last minute change, it is suffice to say that the Pakistan captain is said to have played a major role in getting Bilal included in the touring squad as he strongly believes he is a player for the future.

A source close to the selectors explained that Razzaq was reluctantly included in the touring squad only because of his experience and standing although everyone agreed that he had been struggling for form and had become stale of late.

But later on it was felt that allowing him to join the team on his own terms would not help the team spirit and leave a bad impression on the other players, particularly the youngsters, which led to his ouster and the inclusion of Bilal.

It is also confirmed that the Board will be taking care of all expenses of the 16th player in the squad as the hosts, the Wales and English Cricket Board have said they will only provide hospitality to 15 players in England.

“But since the ECB made it clear it had no objections to Pakistan sending an extra player on their own expenses, it was decided that the 16-member squad should be retained,” said one source.

However, it is not clear as yet who qualifies in the selected squad as the 16th player although technically he will be able to play in all the matches including the internationals. The name of Misbah-ul-Haq has been mentioned in this regard.

In a way, dropping of Razzaq means that atleast Azhar Mehmood, recalled to the squad, will get his best chance of proving his credentials once again as in the last few years he has been in direct competition with Razzaq for a place in the Pakistan team.Abdul Razzaq

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It was a long time coming, and I personally would have liked to see his axing sooner than this.

He's a great player no doubt, but you can only live on your past laurels for so long. What was more important was the fact that he was being selected in the team as a bowler who could show signs of batting brilliance every 9-10 games or so. I would've had no problem had he been included as a consistently attacking bat who could bowl (in a Chris Cairns type role).

But his bowling has been ineffective and absolute rubbish for a long time. Not to mention completely neagative body-language on the field. Evidence speaks for itself even here in Khail Khilari, when die-hard fans could only talk about his odd batting mini-explosions whenever the topic came up.

Anyway healthy competition is always a plus point. Good luck Azhar and let's hope A.Razzaq can fight for his place and give a more consistent performance when he eventually is recalled.

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Check it out. Pretty cool..huh :cool:

pretty glad to see Razzaq out of the team. I’ve been saying it all along. There are better options available. :biggthumb :dhimpak:

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Without reverse swing Razzaq is a liability as a bowler, although he can be a matchwinner occasionally with the bat. Unless he can contribute with the ball though, we have better options like Shoaib Malik to take the premier allrounder spot.

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I think its about time Pakistan kicked out Razzaq. His body language was negative, his bowling was no great shakes and his batting once in a while just isn’t enough to cement his place in the team. Finally the selectors realized this :k:

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Razzaq

I'm actually disappointed to see A. Razzaq go. I think we need his experience especially in England where he would be used to the pitches.

I don't think Azhar Mehmood is up to his caliber as an all-rounder.

I agree that if someone is going through a rough patch then maybe they should be rested and others should be given a chance. But I don't see anyone complaining about Yoyo. Don't get me wrong I think he's awesome, but he hasn't done ANYTHING lately.

Also everyone keeps stressing A. Razzaq's bowling, but it's his batting that we need right now with such a weak batting side. He gave Shoaib Malik good support in the game against NZ and he's a good pinch hitter. Personally I think he's a good bowler, even if he doesn't take wickets his economy rate it good. He got 5 wickets in Lanka and played 5 matches. He usually has good line and length also if not pace.

Maybe he needs time to rest to get back into form, but I think he needs to be playing with the PCB backing him to help his confidence (and his form) since it probably still hasn't bounced back since the WC.

Everyone talks about how he did really badly in the WC, but so did every single other member of the team. He was also injured right before and didn't have enough time to get back into the groove.

I also don't see any poor body language he is always smiling.

I think the PCB should have given him more time before pulling him off the team. Hopefully this will just motivate him to do better and he'll be back on the squad soon.

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In the above mentioned thread you said if everyone thinks Razaq is a preeety ordinary bowler. Cause thats what you thought. While everyone actually knows Razzaq’s bowling has been ordinary for a little time but he is not an ordinary bowler. He is out of form or fame has gone into his head whatever the case maybe the fact remains when in full form Razzaq is one of the top all rounders in world cricket. hopefully this will be wakeup call for him… Azhar is no where near in the same class as Razzaq.

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The Game Responds:

      *Great point about his body language. He showed no presence in either batting or bowling, and that has been the case for many months now. People, That Is All.*
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It doesn’t matter if he’s ordinary because of the form or because of his abilities, as long as he’s out of the team, I am happy.

Accept it, his performance has been going downhill for sometime now. And if Waseem, Inzi and Waqar can be dropped for poor performance then there is no reason why Razzaq shouldnt’ be dropped as well.

The door is now open for some young player to prove himself. :biggthumb:

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Bilal Asad is here! No Worries!

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aBdulraZZak

abdul razzak is an excellent allrounder

ONE-DAY INTERNATIONALS
(including 23/05/2003)

Batting & Fielding
M I NO Runs HS Ave SR 100 50 Ct St

132 112 24 2427 112 27.57 71.21 1 13 18 0

Bowling
O M R W Ave BBI 4w 5w SR Econ
961.5 61 4224 161 26.23 6-35 4 3 35.8 4.39

he is the 16th best ever batsman produced by patistan
http://www-aus6.cricket.org/link_to_database/STATS/PAK/BATTING/ODI_BAT_HIGHEST_AVS_PAK.html

and bowling wise he is the 9th best ever bowler produced by pakistan wid strike rate and average both slightly betta than imran khan
http://www-aus6.cricket.org/link_to_database/STATS/PAK/BOWLING/ODI_BOWL_BEST_AVS_PAK.html

now this doesn’t mean that he is betta than imran khan, what it does mean is that he is an excellent player and he was the best allrounder wid us until he broke his wrist against australia and its gonna take sometime to come back properly, he has the experience and i wouldn’t be surprised if he becomes the captain in future, he has a cool head and determination and discipline to stick to the plan, and for those who think he is not quick enough, i reckon he can consistently bowl 130-140 km/h which is fast medium bowling and even the current west indian side don’t have anyone faster than that, and the bowlers faster than that u can simply count them on ur finger tips, shortly there are not many who are faster than him mostly around his pace, so he is definitly one of the best allrounders pakistan has ever produced …

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aBdulraZZak

another thing i missed that personally i believe that our players play to much cricket as in, they wudn't play for months and all of a sudden they are playin everywhere plus players playin for counties shud not be considered to play for pakistan since they can loose there form coz of playin too much, so PCB needs to make a good schedule, wid 20-25 onedays and around 12 test matches a year, considerin our poor form in test matches, if they want good consistent genuine players they need to concentrate on test cricket

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er wats the arrogance in comine later... shoib can stay in a 5 star hotel but thats not arogance lol .... oh plz someone needs to knwo the meaning of arogance :p .... sadly he is not in form :(

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Razzaq is a player of great personality and the least thing about him is his arrogance, he is probably one of the most friendliest guy in the Pakistani team.

All players from other international team enjoy a great time with Razzaq.

I remember Tony Grieg in Sharjah saying one time, he asked Tendulkar who is the best cricketer to play against as far as the enjoyment factor is concerned, he answered, Hansie Cronje, Abdul Razzaq and Murali.