**Wasim, Anwar and Youhana available
By Our Sports Correspondent - 17 October 2002
LAHORE, Oct 16: Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar and Yousuf Youhana on Wednesday made themselves available for selection for Pakistan’s tour of Zimbabwe from Nov 1. Wasim and Saeed opted out of the current series against Australia while Youhana was sidelined by a shoulder.
Talking to reporters at Gaddafi stadium, Wasim said that he was relaxed after a ‘rest’ from the game.
Wasim said that he played for the World XI against England in Cardiff earlier this month only for recreation sake.
The left-arm pacer said that he might not take part in the Super Sixes tournament in Singapore on Nov 1 and 2 after being named in a seven-member squad. He said that the event clashed with Zimbabwe tour, therefore, he wanted to givefull attention to that tour.
Saeed, the left-handed opening batsman, claimed that he was ready to play for the Test series against Australia, but the PCB ignored him.
Middle-order batsman Youhana, meanwhile, said that he had already started practice and felt no pain at the moment.
I don’t care what anyone says, but for Wasim and Anwar to comeback against a weak side like Zimbabwe, it is very shameful. Where were they when Pakistan’s biggest challenge in the past 2 years.
I didn’t include Youhana in this list as he was injured.
I don’t think Inzi will make it before WC.
It will be a debatable point whether they "opted out" or were side-lined by the selectors. There is always so much internal politics going on, thats many a time it is hard to tell.
In any case, Pakistan should not be dependant on the oldies and the youngsters need to take on more responsibility, going forward. It will be an added bonus if the experienced players can stick around till WC 2003 to provide stabilization to our brittle but talented outfit.
I wouldn't call them "cowards" for not playing in one series. These same players have time and again proved how invaluable they are and have created all kinds of records all over the world. Lets not be so shallow in our appreciation for their services. This is highly disgraceful behavior towards our national heroes.
Yes I agree they have done miraculous number of wonders for our country but they have no right to leave the team when they are playing the most dominant team in the world. Any excuse is a pathetic excuse. Thats one thing I will never forget. I can understand if one player wants to rest from cricket and spend time with family but for them to travel to England and play 2 days of useless cricket is unbearable. Some guppie in here pointed out how Wasim poured his heart out when he was bowling in useless 3rd class match while he should have serving his countryman as they were getting pummbled by the Australians. I have no sympathies for these players if they get the boot in a matter of time. And please cut the junk about internal politics, there is nothing like that, these old farts are out just for money and I thought Saeed was a honest man but just like Wasim he betrayed his country.
They are not cowards, they were pushed out by our captain and his manager. I dont think they are alone to be blamed for this. I agree with Faisal bhai that it is disgraceful to call them cowards. The team needs them to be there to strengthen the side and also lend a helping hand to the youngsters.
I think Wasim deserved a rest... firsot of all he is diabetic and surely age is catching up with him. He was playing continuously since 3 months and he must have felt that he will not perform Playing in this series coz of burn out and he should give youngsters a chnce to show ther mettle against aussies !! Thought it will always be controversial why he chose to play in England but we must understand that conditions there were extremely pleasant as compared to colomboi and sharjah. Plus this is a test match , lasts five days (not necessarily in Pakistan's case ) ). So requires greater effort!!
Someone said Waqar has to do with Wasim and Anwar's exclusion in the team. Do you guys really think he is foolish enough not to include his best batsman and his most experinced bowler, because he might end up loosing his spot in the team if his team looses the series.
Both of them opted to rest, why couldn't they rest on the tour to Zimbabwe or Morroco Cup or Kenya cup, they only wanted to rest when their young and already handicapped team without Inzi and Youhana played against the most dominant side in the world.
And for Wasim to go to England and play 2 straight days of cricket and leave his country behind shows his character.
Professionaly I have respect for these guys but personally not much!
too much politics goes onin our national team, i doubt they opted out, but they were left out by mr captain and the selectors.. dont blame them for this.. but i do seriously believe that there time is finished and they should not come back,
Abay yaar, like I said before, Waqar is not dumb enough to exclude his 2 experienced players because then his team had a bigger chance of loosing and that would threatened his captaincy. Waqar is not another Wasim, he was the one who brought back Wasim Akram when Wasim was thinking of retiring. I don't think Saeed has anything personal to do with Waqar, its all about their luxury, they play whenever they feel like.
Both of them before the series started wanted to be out, and PCB couldn't do anything about it.
I hope Allah shows them the right path and make them do the right thing and help Pakistan win the WC.
Seriously guys, for Pakistan this series against Australia is probably the 2nd most important thing after the World Cup and for them to just leave right before the start of the series seems to dissappoint me.
I don't think it has to do anythin with cowardness....n i don't think they really wanted to rest as in Saeed's case, he recently joined the team after a long time.....so there must be some other reason...they didn't play....
Umair dude... you have as much right to your opinion as the next person. If you feel these two players were being cowards and stayed away from Australia series because they thought they would not be able to perform due to strong Australian team, then you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Primarily because this is just hypothetical discussion and there can not be a logical evidencial exchange of views on this topic.
But if you were expecting that people here will agree with you in calling these two great players as "cowards" then you seriously miscalculated. As far as personal opinions go, I hold these two at highest regard. They are the finest players I have seen in recent years. Both are match winners in their own right. I have seen Waseem bowling Pakistan to a world cup victory and for me, he is absolved of anything you can accuse him of. He is our national hero. He can choose to play or not to play in any series he wants. Its his choice.
Having said that, I think you take things in too simplistic manner. Waqar is not as "seedha" as you think he is. I have seen how things work in PCB from inside, and one thing I can tell you... there is just so much which goes on behind the scenes which you will never see in any newspaper.
Umair my friend , you are just over reacting, let me make it simple for you.
As you mentioned Waqar isnt stupid enough to drop Anwar and Wasim . News flash, these two players performances were subpar and failed to show results in the past one day series despite given chances. Waqar clearly showed his dissatisfaction with these players and along with mudasser nazar suggested to infuse new blood before Anwar and wasim can opt themselves out to make it more respectable.Either way they wouldnt be playing. Waqar wanted youngsters and now they are playing terrible obvioulsly he must have realized his mistake.
I don't think it was a rumour infact a fact that Waqar and Nazar wanted young players to play instead of seniors whom continoulsy played poorly. Maybe the team management wanted them to "rest' so that they regroup themselves.
I want to be optmistic but can't, we played with "talented"(yah right)youngsters and as well with our full strength team and yet we couldnt find a way to win! Injuires and fitness is just an excuse of bad performances.
Aren’t u one of those people who were before the series, delighted at the prospect that even if Pakistan beats Australia in one match we would see then end of Wasim, Inzi and Saeed waghera. Now that Pakistan has been defeated badly you r calling the same people cowards just because we probably won’t see the end of those If Pakistan cricket board has failed to groom youngsters you can not blamme senior players for that. Particularly Wasim. All the players that stayed in the team consistently their performance improved remarkably Razzaq to mention one. He gives credit for that to none other than Wasim. So how come he is a coward and people sitting in air conditioned offices of gadaffi stadium aren’t? Its the borad’s responsibility to find and groom young talent, its not at all the responsibility of players!!! You calling them cowards won’t change their records so keep trying Good Luck :k:
First of all Fantatistic bhai, I was never delighted when Wasim and Saeed opted out, I was extremely dissappointed.
Like I said before it doesn't matter how talented young players you put in front of Australia, it is impossible to win. With Saeed in the team, the young batsman had someone to look upto, someone who can give them advise on and off field. Who are they looking upto now, Younis Khan ?
The avg age of players in our team is 24, yes 24, and avg age of players in the Aussie team is 32. That is a huge difference. Why couldn't Wasim opt out for Zimbabwe series.
Yes I know he has done so much for our team but that doesn't give him a right abandon the team when he feels like and play for some useless cricket team in England.
Wasim was right to opt out of the Australia series. he has been getting blamed for our poor showing before that but I saw with my own eyes that it was Waqar who was bowling much worse in the matches beforehand where we got spanked by Sri Lanka and Australia. Waqar should have accepted his responsibilty for the blame instead of singling out Wasim who looked ten times more dangerous than himself.
Also, we saw with Waqar's hopeless handling of the genuinely injured Youhanna how stupid decisions can destroy team solidarity. Those at the top should either accept responsibilty when things go wrong or let someone else do it.
Yes I know he has done so much for our team but that doesn't give him a right abandon the team when he feels like and play for some useless cricket team in England.
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Umair bhai, recently when Shoaib opted out of Morrocco tournament you defended him strongly, so why the double standards when it comes to Akram and Saeed?
If Pakistan cricket board has failed to groom youngsters you can not blamme senior players for that. Particularly Wasim. All the players that stayed in the team consistently their performance improved remarkably Razzaq to mention one. He gives credit for that to none other than Wasim. So how come he is a coward and people sitting in air conditioned offices of gadaffi stadium aren’t? Its the borad’s responsibility to find and groom young talent, its not at all the responsibility of players!!! You calling them cowards won’t change their records so keep trying