All I can is interesting…
Rana Naveed or Rao Iftikhar may play today
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan and rookie pacer Rao Iftikhar have very good chances of making the Pakistan eleven on Saturday against India.
Pakistan manager Haroon Rasheed confirmed that it was unlikely that pacer Shabbir Ahmed would be fit in time for the match because of his finger injury. “He is very doubtful for this match. He is finding it difficult to field.”
Coach Javed Miandad said if Shabbir could not make it then either all-rounder Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan or Iftikhar will play today. “We will finalize the playing eleven on the morning of the match. Both are strong contenders to play,” he added.
While the 25-year-old Rana Naveed has played just two ODIs last year in Sharjah, Iftikhar is a 23-year old fast medium pacer who emerged as the highest wicketaker on the domestic circuit this season.
Pakistan’s probable line-up should be chosen from amongst the following 12 players: Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hameed, Yousaf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq (Capt), Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Muhammad Sami and Rao Iftikhar.
India: Sourav Ganguly (capt), Rahul Dravid, Virendar Sehwag,
Sachin Tendulkar, Venkatsai Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Hemang Badani, Zaheer Khan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Irfan Pathan, Murali Kartik, Parthiv Patil, Ashish Nehra, Ramesh Power — WK