Daily Times

LAHORE: The Pakistan cricket team left here Sunday for the England-Ireland tour where they will play a Test against Ireland, two Tests against England and two T20 internationals against Scotland. Pakistan will kick off the tour with a match against Kent on April 28, followed by a second tour match against Northamptonshire on May 4. The team will then take on Ireland, who will be playing their first ever Test on May 11 before taking on England in two Test matches on May 24 and June 1. This will be followed by two T20 internationals against Scotland on May 12 and 13. Prior to leaving for the tour, Pakistan’s 16-member squad took part in a training camp at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Speaking on the last day of the camp, captain Sarfraz Ahmed weighed in on the Fawad Alam debate which has consumed Pakistan cricket, since his exclusion from the upcoming tour of Ireland and England. “This is completely untrue that Fawad was not picked up on the bases of techniques, management issue or any other fault in him. “Fawad has not played a Test since 2009 but he was called to the camp as one of the probable players who could’ve been selected for the upcoming tour. Just because he was called it does not mean it was a done deal that he would be picked for the team. Since Usman Salahuddin and Saad Ali performed better, hence they were picked,” he explained. Sarfraz also added that he was looking forward to their encounter against Ireland and had high hopes from his young team.

Published in Daily Times, April 23^rd 2018.