KARACHI: National selectors will meet soon to decide the fate of several discarded players including two former captains ahead of the team announcement for this summer’s tour of West Indies.
Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan’s chief selector, told ‘The News’ on Wednesday that he and fellow national selectors will consider senior players like ex-captains Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan provided they pass a strenuous fitness test at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore on Thursday (today).
“Several players will undergo a beep test in Lahore tomorrow,” Iqbal said. “If the pass that test, these players will be considered for the series against West Indies,” he added.
The seasoned duo of Afridi and Younis are in a group of eight players who have been asked to undergo fitness tests as the national cricket chiefs want to assess their fitness levels before including them in the preliminary squad for the limited-over series against West Indies.
The idea is to know for sure whether players like Afridi are fit enough to play international cricket.
Pakistan have gambled with unfit senior players in the recent past and national selectors are fully aware that such episodes can turn into embarrassments once it becomes clear during a series that a recalled senior player wasn’t fit enough for national duty.
When Najam Sethi, the acting chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), met with national selectors in Lahore soon after his appointment he made a query about the national team’s selection for the series against West Indies. It was decided that the selectors should consider all options but should not compromise on form and fitness of the players.
“No player can be considered for national duty if there are any doubts about his fitness,” said Iqbal, a former Pakistan Test spinner.
He said that the national team for the Caribbean assignment would be announced as soon as the acting PCB chief returns from England where he is currently attending an International Cricket Council (ICC) moot. The announcement is likely early next week.
Pakistan are set to make several changes in their line-up for the One-day and Twenty20 Internationals against West Indies after their team flopped miserably in the ICC Champions Trophy earlier this month.
Misfiring players like opener Imran Farhat, former captain Shoaib Malik, wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal and a few others are likely to be shown the door by national selectors.
Misbah-ul-Haq is likely to be retained as captain in spite of the fact that under his leadership Pakistan lost all their three matches and fell at the first hurdle in this month’s Champions Trophy which took place in England and Wales. Unlike most of his team’s other batters, Misbah was a success story with two fifties in three games — a performance that should help him keep the captaincy armband.
Previously discarded players like Shahid Afridi, Umar Akmal and Ahmad Shahzad are likely to be recalled for the series against West Indies which would be held in July. It will include five One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 games.
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