da 888： Pakistan cricket selectors left out eternally unfit “six-million Rupeeman” Shoaib Akhtar from the 16-man squad for the three-match one-dayinternationals series against New Zealand starting here nextWednesday
12-Sep-2001Pakistan cricket selectors left out eternally unfit “six-million Rupeeman” Shoaib Akhtar from the 16-man squad for the three-match one-dayinternationals series against New Zealand starting here nextWednesday.But in a comedy of errors, the selectors named Shoaib captain of thePakistan Cricket Board (PCB) XI which will test the muscles of NewZealand in a one-day warm-up match at the National Stadium on Sunday.What is mind boggling in the scenario is that the man who was notconsidered fit to play limited overs games, has been not only includedin the practice one-dayer but has been assigned to lead the team.If the selectors had any fitness doubts against Shoaib, they shouldhave removed them by naming him in New Zealand’s threedayer atRawalpindi between Sept 27 and 29 where he would have bowled longspells and stayed in the field for more than half the match.In addition to this, the selectors will have another excellentopportunity to scrutinize Shoaib’s fitness if he appears for KRLagainst Sui Gas in the Patron’s Trophy first-class tournament openerat the KRL ground between Sept 21 and 24.But with the selectors now accountable to the PCB after beingappointed on handsome salaries, bloopers like these will continue tohappen. Unfortunately, there will be no cross checks because theofficials at Lahore secretariat, who approve the squads, considerthemselves more knowledgeable than the people who are in the thick ofthe sport.It is for the second time in six weeks that Shoaib has failed to makeit to the team despite being invited to attend a training camp. The26-year-old, who has spent more time on the massage table rather thanin the field since bursting into international scene in 1997-98 and onwhom the PCB has spent over Rs six million on medical bills, hadearlier missed selection for the Test against Bangladesh in the AsianTest Championship at Multan last month.The injury-prone bowler has played just 15 Tests since making hisdebut against the West Indies at Rawalpindi. He has appeared in 40 oddone-day internationals.The selectors also left out Imran Nazir and Faisal Iqbal but namedleft-handed opener Taufiq Umer, paceman Shabbir Ahmad and uncappedNaved Latif and Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan. Saqlain Mushtaq and ShahidAfridi are also back in the side after completing their assignmentsfor Surrey and Leicestershire in the English County Championships.The chairman of selectors Wasim Bari has made it a habit of refusingto defend his teams. And this time too it was no exception when hesaid: “All I can say is that the team has been unanimously picked bythe selectors as well as the captain and coach. The skipper and coachwill now be all in all while finalizing their playing lineups.”Taufiq Umer’s preference over Imran Nazir is somewhat surprising asthe former has played just one Test in which he scored a century whilethe latter was recently considered for one-dayers only.Imran, probably the best fielder in the Pakistan team, was speciallyflown along with Shahid Afridi for the trination one-day series inEngland where he was not played in a single match.While Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan is tipped to be an allrounder for future,Naved Latif is living on the royalty of his 394 in a Quaid-i-AzamTrophy match for Sargodha against Gujranwala last season.The seriousness of the match can be judged from the fact that Navedlater opened the bowling in Gujranwala’s second innings and wasclobbered for five sixes in six balls while conceding 32 runs. Sincethen, Naved hasn’t performed anything of note.Inzamam-ul-Haq was included in the side though he will miss theopening two one-day internationals as he is under suspension.Squad: Saeed Anwar, Taufiq Umer, Shahid Afridi, Inzamam-ul-Haq,Yousuf Youhana, Younis Khan, Naved Latif, Rashid Latif (wicketkeeper),Azhar Mahmood, Abdur Razzaq, Rana Naveed-ul- Hasan, Waqar Younis(captain), Wasim Akram, Shabbir Ahmad, Saqlain Mushtaq and ShoaibMalik.