The selectors continued to blunder once again by dropping the only player in Pakistan who has played top level cricket in Australia -- Younis Khan.
The manager of the Pakistan cricket team --who also doubles as the chief selector --has a plan to make Pakistan the world champions. Moin Khan has a clear vision, and he believes that if he sticks to it, Pakistan will end up with the Cup.
Sounds familiar? That’s exactly what happens in Pakistan every time the World Cup is about to start. Even in 1992, the World Cup winning Imran Khan refused to take Javed Miandad as he thought he would be useless Down Under and told the media that Javed wasn’t fit. We all know who was the main architect of the victory --his name wasn’t Imran. Fast forward to the present, the selectors continued to blunder once again by dropping the only player in Pakistan who has played top level cricket in Australia --Younis Khan.
It would have been better had the super fit Younis been replaced by someone better but the selectors chose to pick useless cricketer Umar Amin for reasons better known to them. How can the youngster fit into a side that has Ahmed Shehzad and Mohammad Hafeez as openers, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam and Sohaib Maqsood vying for a place in the middle-order, Safaraz Ahmed as the wicket keeper, and Anwar Ali and/or Shahid Afridi as supporting all-rounders?
Younis Khan is always there as a former captain, thinking cricketer and batsman who could have fitted in at number 3 but Umar Amin can’t. He was tried at different spots in his last stint as an international cricketer but has displayed that he can’t bowl at all, and as every cricket enthusiast (except a handful of Umar Amin supporters) has seen, he can’t bat either.
Has Younis Khan been dropped because Shaharyar Khan is back as the Chairman? They had a tussle the last time the latter was in office. Has Misbah-ul-Haq been assigned a team by the selectors without his input, because everyone knows the Pakistan captain wanted the senior batsman in the side?
Of all the players we have, the only one who actually knows Australia is Younis Khan. Who can forget his splendid catch that went viral on YouTube (when it was working) during a domestic match! He knows how swing works in that part of the world and it was Down Under that Younis was encouraged to use his height and bowl fast, rather than be the leg-spinner who was belted for 26 runs by Craig McMillan in 2001 --that too in a Test match.
There is still a possibility of Younis Khan returning to the side, that too in Pakistani style. He can have a good series against Australia and New Zealand (which he is likely to have, considering he is the only real Test batsman in the lineup) and that will force the selectors to rethink. God forbid, if Pakistan lose the series, then even Misbah-ul-Haq will not be certain about his place in the squad and as happened in 1996, the captaincy will come back to the only person who deserves it. Back then it was Wasim Akram, now it is Younis Khan.
Mind you, nothing the selectors say is valid, especially in Pakistan because they donít have a plan, even though Moin Khan claims to have one. In his crooked plan, there is no genuine right-arm fast bowler since he is depending too much on a half-fit Mohammad Irfan, an out-of-luck Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan whom he himself has dropped from T20. Ouch!
Since we don’t have Saeed Ajmal (in all probability even in the World Cup), we need an experienced bowler who can take wickets anywhere in the innings --and hence Moin Khan picked up Raza Hassan. Had it not been better had Zulfiqar Babar been picked for the series as well and the better bowler would have been selected for the mega event? Both of them havenít played an ODI match for Pakistan and the Australia-NZ series would have been the best test for them. Thatís for us to think, the selectors just do it. They blundered for a decade by not selecting Zulfiqar Babar and when he showed his potential at international levels, the door was shut for him. Good going Moin sahib, werenít you dropped from the side for a younger Kamran Akmal yourself? Is that what you want to happen with all your colleagues or cricketers who peak after 35?
Enough of the one day side; let’s talk about the T20 squad. There is the always undependable Sohail Tanvir in the side who might take wickets but has lost more matches for his country than he has actually won. There is Umar Amin and Saad Nasim who don’t have a record to boast of. Yet there must be something. The Chief Selector must have seen it in them to name them in the T20 side. One hopes the return of Bilawal Bhatti in T20 encourages him to bowl well so that he gets a place in the ODI squad where a genuine pacer is missing. Awais Ziaís century against FATA in the National T20 Cup got him a place in the squad just like Younis Khan’s match-winning knock against the touring Sri Lankans in a side match got him a Test cap. Younis made most of that chance and went on to serve Pakistan well. If Awais can do the same, who knows how far he could go. However, he must know that at the end of the tunnel, there is a Chief Selector who will try to block his rise, and he will have to give more than 100 percent to beat all.