How was Fawad Alam’s selection into squad blocked?

The inclusion of four openers in the squad for the upcoming Test series in England and Ireland made it impossible for left-handed batsman Fawad Alam to be selected, according to an analysis published in Daily Jang today.

The four openers, including Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq’s nephew Imam, Saad Ali, Fakhar Zaman and Fahim Ashraf, are going to play Test matches for the first time.

Pakistani batsmen have always struggled playing under difficult conditions of England, which makes it plausible to believe that batting line-up is rather weak apparently. Usman Salahuddin, the middle-order batsman who’s been picked for the team, has no experience of playing in the Tests either.

This makes Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali as the most senior batsmen in the team.

The report stated that coach Mickey Arthur has been pushing the case of Imam ever since he scored century on ODI debut and when the matter of deciding between Saad Ali and Fawad Alam came up for England series, the troika of chief selector, coach and skipper vetoed Alam.

Many people also reckon that the selection of Imam-ul-Haq over Fawad was not done on the basis of merit and justice.

What people are more concerned about is the fact that Fawad Alam boasts a rather sound career-record in comparison to that of Imam-ul-Haq’s.

Having a tally of 10,742 runs at a staggering average of 55.37, Fawad is far more experienced than Imam, who might have made an impressive international cricket debut against Sri Lanka in October last year, was just able to muster 222 runs at a below-average of 27.75 in five games.

On the contrary, Inzamam-ul-Haq defending the decision that has been in talks these past few days, said that there are other players who perform better than Fawad.

Admiring the left-hander's outstanding performance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy over the past four years as his average has been 40.71, 55.54, 56 and 71.90, Inzamam-ul-Haq, in an interview, said; "Fawad Alam is an outstanding player but in the last three years there are others at the top of the list, we got him here in the nets but we found Saad Ali to be better, and the decision to prefer Saad was unanimous, with input from all the coaching staff and captain."