Waqar retains captaincy for Aussie one-dayers
KARACHI, May 19: Waqar Younis was retained Pakistan captain Sunday as the selectors were set to announce a 14-man team for the next month’s Super Challenge series against world champions Australia.
The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, said from Rawalpindi Waqar was an automatic choice. But as regards the team, the PCB chief said the chairman of selectors Wasim Bari was in a better position to comment.
He, however, made it clear that there would be no experiments and the best 14 would be picked for the tour that commences a gruelling cricket upto the World Cup starting Feb 8. Pakistan take on Australia on Feb 9 in the opener at Johannesburg.
After the June series, Pakistan is to play in a tri-nation one-day series between Aug 12 and 21 at Morocco, then an unconfirmed tri-series originally scheduled in Pakistan between Aug 27 and Sept 7, then the ICC Champions Trophy at Colombo between Sept 12 and 30, then an undecided three-Test series against Australia in Pakistan before embarking on the African safari where it will play four Tests and 10 One-day Internationals.
"There is no need to announce Waqar captain until the World Cup because the concerned people know who would be the man incharge.
“Waqar knows it, Mudassar Nazar knows it and we know it. But as far as the PCB policy is concerned, we would stick to the promise of announcing the captain on a series-by-series basis,” Tauqir said.
Waqar was always expected to retain the captaincy after his team continued to make significant progress in terms of consistency and positive results. But the point to be noted is that it is after a long time that the appointment of a captain and the composition of the team looks as simple as it is now.
It has taken the present setup nearly two-and-a-half years to find the right combination and after changing three captains, four coaches and after trying numerous players.
As far as the team composition in concerned, there are clear indications that the same squad would be retained that won the Sharjah Cup and swept the three-match one-day series against New Zealand last month.
Although Abdul Razzaq and Saqlain Mushtaq will not be available, Azhar Mahmood and Saeed Anwar would return to bolster the team.
The likely 14: Saeed Anwar, Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Shoaib Malik, Azhar Mahmood, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis (captain), Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Misbah-ul-Haq.
The first two matches will be played indoors at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium on June 12 and 15 with the final game at the Gabba in Brisbane on June 19.
The Pakistan squad leaves for Australia on June 5.
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