By picking uncapped trio of Mohammad Rizwan, Sami Aslam and Babar Azam for the tour of Bangladesh, the new selection committee has addressed the longstanding call for infusing fresh blood in the enervated veins of Pakistan team – or rather teams - for the three formats.

Haroon Rasheed, the recently-installed chief selector, and members of his newly-formed committee including Saleem Jaffer and Azhar Khan along with the debutant national selector Kabir Khan have done justice to start with. At the same time, they have made sure Pakistan are not caught wrong-footed against a Bangladesh side brimming with confidence by opting against going for wholesale changes.

Unlike Pakistan, Bangladesh had a good World Cup if judged by their previous outings in the mega event. On the dint of that performance, Talismanic all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan believes that the Tigers have even chance of adding to their solitary ODI win against Pakistan in the upcoming three matches in Dhaka.

Therefore, it was imperative that all three squads give a blend of experience and youth, and that is exactly what the selectors have come up with. Of course, there will be questions pertaining to certain selections or omissions at this point in time. Sadly in Pakistan cricket, there is seldom any room for all concern to be on the same page.

As expected, the immediate international future of under-performing Umar Akmal has been put on hold. The grossly under-achieving batsman cannot point any accusing finger at anyone but himself for this development. Enough is enough, as they say, and the youngest of the Akmal siblings has been afforded far too many opportunities to showcase his ‘tremendous talent’ which somehow still appears to be in embryonic stage of his cricketing life.

One really can’t think of any other Pakistan cricketer having got pampered for so long by those who were unwilling to understand the logic of having Umar picked time and again. Those, who had clamoured for his inclusion in the past couple of years will now feel, in hindsight, a lot embarrassed for backing the wrong horse.

The less demanding grind of domestic first-class cricket usually provides out-of-form players an opportunity to rectify themselves but Umar was one classic example of an international cricketer who wasn’t keen on spending ample time at the crease to rediscover the Midas touch which had deserted him for a long time.

One can recall the Gold League fixture of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship at the National Stadium last October when Umar had returned home after the limited-overs games of the series against Australia in the UAE.

Captaining his department, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in the absence of seniors (Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and Taufiq Umar), Umar was all at sea against Shahzaib Ahmed Khan, the former Pakistan Under-19 leg-spinner who had a brilliant season with Karachi Dolphins.

Although that day Umar made 42 – which coincidentally turned out be his highest score of a dismal championship (146 runs in 11 innings at an average of 13.27) – he was never comfortable against Shahzaib whose assortment of flippers and different types of googlies reduced him to a mediocre player. Umar could have got out on at least six occasions in what became a treacherous outing on a pitch that hardly aided Shahzaib.

And yet the national selectors of the time kept persisting with the overestimated right-hander for the subsequent one-day and T20 series against New Zealand and then the World Cup with the forlorn hope that he would eventually deliver. Umar failed miserably while the likes of Azhar Ali and Rizwan kept waiting in the wings for their chance despite performing brilliantly in the Pentangular Cup and the preceding National T20 Cup.

Opener Ahmed Shehzad should also count himself extremely lucky to have made the T20 grade despite receiving negative remarks from Waqar Younis in the head coach’s World Cup report to the PCB chairman. However, his demotion from the Test and ODI squads is a harsh lesson that he must learn from if he aspires to have a lengthy international career.

The exclusion of Younis Khan from the one-day squad after his ill-fated World Cup excursion is a just one as well. However, the PCB media release tactfully used the word ‘rested’ for him which means the former Pakistan captain’s one-day career is still alive.

After gate-crashing into the World Cup party last January, Sohail Khan has been rewarded for his lionhearted bowling with places in the Test and T20 teams, which makes sense because the rugged Pathan is well experienced, and now much wiser, to understand the requisitions of international cricket.

The return of Hafeez and Saeed Ajmal was expected with both the seasoned stalwarts finding spots in all three formats.

Shehzad’s ouster means that at least one of Sami Aslam and Babar Azam stands in line to become Pakistan’s 220th Test debutant as the opening partner of Hafeez in the opening game of the two-match series in Bangladesh.

But Hafeez must realise that his playing future is on the line after being bypassed by Azhar Ali to replace Misbah-ul-Haq as the ODI skipper. And then unlike Ajmal, his bowling action is yet to be cleared by the ICC. Hafeez, therefore, has no option left but to contribute as senior pro to help Azhar settle down as the 26th Pakistan ODI captain.

The induction of Sialkot’s Mukhtar Ahmed is a refreshing change in the T20 squad. The 22-year-old right-hander’s 48-ball century against the likes of Afridi, Mohammad Sami and Anwar Ali in the National T20 Cup in Karachi last September was a dazzling display which the selectors have, indeed, recognised.

Moreover, Mukhtar is a useful exponent of leg-spin and his presence means Hafeez is no more an automatic choice for the one-off T20 fixture against the Tigers, especially if he fails to become eligible as a bowler.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2015

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