Time to act! Comment on Pakistan selections
Report by Mohammed Ismail Peracha
28 October, 2002
I want to convey my message to the Pakistan Cricket Board authorities that please for God’s-Sake do not continue to destroy the Pakistan cricket team, which is resulting in the tarnishing of Pakistan’s name.
In recent times it has been difficult to understand the policy of the cricket board especially selection committee’s selection criteria.
One feels sorry the way senior players have been handled. First there was confusion about unwillingness of Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar to play against Australia (October 2002). But this is on file that there have been statements from PCB authorities that Wasim Akram should just play one-day internationals. Such statements have even been issued by the PCB chairman so one is forced to think that the two seniors might have opted out of series seeing the odds of not being selected and also to take a rest, which is a not a misdemeanor as presented by the cricket authorities. To make things even worse the manager of Pakistan Cricket team Brig. Khawaja Mohammad Nasir issued a statement saying that senior players ran away because of the Australian fear. He might be living in fool’s paradise to issue such a statement, as he should have been aware that Wasim Akram and Saeed Anwar have played well against all cricketing nations. Records of Wasim Akram reveals that he has been outstanding against the Australians on many occasions so the manager or any body else should think at least twice before issuing such statements. As these two seniors have not been selected for the Zimbabwe Test series (November 2002) so why would have selection committee selected them for the Australian series, so it shows their shrewdness to opt out of the Australian series.
There have been many other flaws also in selection for the Zimbabwe series. Shahid Afridi was recalled for last Test against Australia but just had to run in the ground with a bottle of water. If he was not fit and then he scored zero in the so called trial match so what is the reason for his selection in Test squad. Cricket lovers are forced to laugh by the fact that the selection committee has considered Wasim Akram not suitable for Test matches where as Shahid Afridi has been included in Test squad. Any body with some cricket knowledge and interest cannot be convinced with such a blemish. I am no way against Afridi’s selection but just trying to figure out what made the selection committee to make such mistakes.
Moin Khan’s omission came as another surprise; he lost his place to Kamran Akmal. If our manager says that seniors ran away because of a fear of the Australians, so the records indicate that Moin has always performed above average level against Australia so why wasn’t that sufficient for his selection in last series against Australia. His one-day average against Australia is 24.61 where as his Test average against Australia is 28.93. Wasim Bari defended the selection of Kamran Akmal and said they want young wicket keeper to accompany the team with Rashid Latif. So what was the reason for calling Moin Khan for the trial match if the selection committee already had an agenda to select a young wicket keeper with Rashid Latif. Who has given them the right to humiliate the seniors?
For Saeed Anwar if the selection committee thinks that he does not deserve place in the team because of his keen involvement in religion it should be made clear rather than to torture him. Saeed’s last Test innings was 101 runs and his last one-day innings was 28 not out where as his average in his last one-day series (ICC Champions Trophy, 2002) was 80.00 with SR of 65.57 and his average in his last Test series (Asia Test Championship 2001/02) was 101.00 with SR 97.11. Still he does not deserve chance??? Its better to have Saeed retire with prestige instead of keeping him, is a mystifying position.
What surprises more is the inclusion of Saleem Elahi, I do not meant to demean Saleem Elahi but as Saeed Anwar has lost his place to Saleem Elahi I want to give statistics for Saleem Elahi so they could be compared with Saeed Anwar’s statistics. Saleem Elahi’s last appearance in Test was in May 2001 in which he scored 0 in first inning and 0 again in second inning so had a pair in his last Test appearance. His last appearance in one dayer was in June 2001 in which he was able to score 10 runs. Since then he has not played any international matches and further more he has not displayed any exceptional performances in domestic competition, so one wonders why he has been preferred over Saeed Anwar. Even in the trial match Saleem Elahi scored only nine runs. Azhar Mahmood along with Ijaz Ahmed pulled out of trial match stating not being fully fit. Surprisingly just after approximately 24 hours of the team announcement Azhar Mahmood’s name was included, who is responsible for his inclusion as he was unfit to play a trial match but the selection committee has named him for international matches.
Everybody is left in jeopardy about the trial match, as few players not performing well are in the team for the Zimbabwe series where as few performing better can not be seen in the team. It’s the right of people to know why this injustice is being done. Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan was in a squad against Australia although he didn’t get a single chance to play against Australia but yet without being given a chance he has been dropped for the Zimbabwe series. So why is different policy for different players.
Lastly I would like to add that we should follow the example of the Australia by adding two or three young players and grooming them with seniors and so on. Although there is no doubt in the potential of young players but in recent series it has been crystal clear that young players need some time to face the teams like Australia. Its time to act and end injustice before its too late, which is already late enough.
