RAWALPINDI: As the second leg of the National T20 Cup is starting today (Friday) here at the Pindi Stadium, Northern’s talented stroke-maker Sohail Akhtar’s absence from the on-field action raises question whether the ability alone is enough to play top level cricket in Pakistan.
Almost half of the tournament is over but we did not see Sohail Akhtar in action. He has tailor-made ability for shorter version of the game and that was one of the reasons why he was picked, groomed and then named captain of the PSL franchise Lahore Qalandars.
A top-order stroke-maker who is capable of leading a PSL franchise is not worthy of playing in National T20 Cup is a matter that may surprise many. The impression was that Sohail might not be fully fit to play the Cup. These doubts, however, were cleared by Northern’s Manager Afaq Rahim.
“There is no problem with Sohail’s fitness. As I am a manager so I have no say in selection matters. Coach Mohammad Wasim has all the powers to pick the team,” he said.
Besides Sohail, Farzan Raja is the other player in the side who did not get a chance to flex muscles so far. Surprisingly, both the players belong to the same PSL squad. When Mohammad Wasim was approached, he said Sohail would get a chance in the coming matches.
“We wanted to give young blood an opportunity to play first. Sohail is a good player and definitely he would get his due to play in rest of the matches,” Wasim said.
He added that the PSL has different priorities. “Before taking any decision we are considering all the aspects as the PSL and National T20 Cup have two different criteria.”
Here the question arises why a quality player like Sohail was sidelined from the first leg of the competition. If Northern did not need him, he should have been in Southern Punjab team that was struggling to raise a good combination.
Just keeping him in reserves would not do any good to player’s competence. One hopes that there would be no personal grudges behind the issue.
Critics have already expressed their concerns over relegation of few top performers to the second XI.