LAHORE: After Shahid Afridi and his charges humiliation in the recently concluded Asia Cup in Bangladesh, Pakistan cricket selectors, headed by former Test opener Haroon Rashid, on Monday recalled star opening batsman Ahmad Shahzad to the World T20 squad. Shahzad has replaced Khurram Manzoor who has been dropped for the upcoming tournament in India after a disappointing performance in the Asia Cup. He managed to score 11 runs in three innings in the tournament. Due to his attitude and behaviour and inconsistency, Shahzad was overlooked for the Asia Cup and World T20. But his consistent performances in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the United Arab Emirates built pressure on the selectors and the team management to recall him.
The 24-year-old Lahore-born opener represented the Men in Green in 40 T20Is, scored 941 at an average of 24.76, and is the only Pakistan player to score a century in the shortest format. The failure of the top-order in Asia Cup, especially Manzoor’s poor run of form, forced the selectors to rethink their decision. Karachi-born top-order batsman Khalid Latif is also included in the squad for the mega event. The 30-year-old last played for Pakistan in June 2012 against Sri Lanka.
Under-fire chief selector Haroon justified Shahzad’s recall by stating that the opener had shown a return to form in the Pakistan Super League. Haroon also admitted that Manzoor’s inclusion was a gamble that ‘backfired’ in the Asia Cup. “Call it an error of judgement or whatever, but we all have seen him scoring runs in domestic cricket and we gave him a chance. He didn’t grab it, it’s up to the player to justify his selection and in his case he didn’t. We gambled on Shoaib Malik last year and it paid off.” Haroon said the team had been selected keeping in mind the conditions during the World T20 in India. “The team is a fine blend of experience and youth and the selectors believe that team will do well in the mega event,” he said.
While as earlier announced, middle-order batsman Khalid will take the place of batsman Ifthikar Ahmad. Ironically, Ifthikar was a part of the squad on the tour to New Zealand and in the Asia Cup but was fielded in only one match in which he didn’t face a single ball and thus goes out without getting any chance to show his worth. And despite speculations about the future of flamboyant allrounder Afridi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to retain him for the mega event as captain but it is certain he will now be asked to retire after the tournament.
Based on the Asia Cup performances, there had been a lot of deliberation among the selectors at the National Cricket Academy here on Sunday and Monday. The top order was the main concern with Mohammad Hafeez, Manzoor and Sharjeel Khan combining for just 94 runs in Pakistan’s four games in the Asia Cup. To address the batting issues, the selectors thought of bringing back batsman Salman Butt as an opener. But Twenty20 skipper was not in favour of spot-fixing tainted Salman making a comeback to the national team. A Pakistan Cricket Board source was quoted as saying that Salman, who completed a five-year ban for spot-fixing last September, was in contention for an immediate comeback to international cricket but Afridi showed his reluctance. “Salman met with chief selector Haroon Sunday night in Lahore. The situation is that members of the Pakistan team have also indicated they have no problems with Salman joining the team but Afridi refused to include Salman in the squad. The selectors had no choice but to recall Shahzad,” the source said.
While Afridi accepted the return of left-arm pacer Mohammad Aamir but he is dead against allowing Salman a second chance. Salman, when contacted, said he was keen to get another shot at reviving his international career. “I am mentally prepared for a comeback. The rest is up to the selectors. But I am not keeping any high hopes,” added Salman. Salman recently scored 536 runs at 107.20 to finish second highest run-scorer in the National One-day Cup behind Kamran Akmal. Salman had replaced Afridi as the Test captain in England in 2010 after the latter announced his retirement from the longest format of the game following the first Test defeat to Australia at Lord’s that year. The spot-fixing incident took place in the fourth Test against England in late August when Salman was captaining the side. In World T20, Pakistan are placed in Super 10 (Group 2) alongside hosts India, Australia, New Zealand and Qaulifier 1, which is most likely to be Asia Cup runners-up Bangladesh. Afridi’s men will play their first match on March 16 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
Pakistan squad: Shahid Afridi (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sharjeel Khan, Ahmad Shahzad, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Muhammad Amir, Mohammad Irfan, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Sami.