LAHORE: A number of cricketers, who performed well in the last national junior three-day and one-day events but could not get selected to any of the six Pakistan Junior League (PJL) teams again failed to get a place on Tuesday as the selectors announced national U-19 squads for the upcoming home series against Bangladesh.

During their visit to Pakistan, the Bangladesh junior squad is scheduled to play one four-day match, three one-day games and two T20s from Nov 4 to 18 at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

Azan Awais, who smashed 312 runs in the national three-day event and 267 in the one-day contest, Usman Nadeem, (274 in three-day event, 179 in one-dayers), Ali Ishaq (316, top run-getter in one-dayers) were not considered for selection to any of the three U-19 squads named for the Bangladesh series.

Surprisingly, Obaid Shahid, the captain of Bahawalpur Royals who won the inaugural PJL recently, also could not get the selectors’ nod for the Bangladesh games. Obaid had scored 277 runs in the national one-day event. Similarly, Ali Zoraiz Asif despite performing well in domestic cricket failed to impress the selectors.

Interestingly Bahawalpur Royals’ Tayyab Arif, who scored just 155 runs (ninth in the high scorers’ list) in the PJL, was in the first place selected for the the league with no performance at the domestic level. Moreover, after being picked for the PJL, he was included in the three national teams announced for the Bangladesh series.

Meanwhile according to a press release issued by the PCB, wicket-keeper/batter Saad Baig will lead Pakistan’s U-19 side in next month’s series against Bangladesh.

U-19 squads for Bangladesh series:

For Four-day matches: Saad Baig (captain), Abdul Basit, Ali Asfand, Basit Ali, Habibullah, Haseeb Nazim, Mohammad Farooq, Mohammad Ibtisam, Mohammad Ismail, Mohammad Nabeel, Mohammad Shoaib, Mohammad Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Zulkifal, Naveed Ahmed, Uzair Mumtaz, Wahaj Riaz

For one-dayers: Saad Baig (captain), Abdul Basit, Ali Asfand, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Basit Ali, Habibullah, Mohammad Farooq, Mohammad Ibtisam, Mohammad Ismail, Mohammad Shoaib, Mohammad Tayyab Arif, Momin Qamar, Shahzaib Khan

For T20s: Saad Baig (captain), Ali Asfand, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Arham Nawab, Basit Ali, Habibullah, Mohammad Ibtisam, Mohammad Shoaib, Mohammad Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Zeeshan, Momin Qamar, Saad Masood, Shamyl Hussain, Shawaiz Irfan, Uzair Mumtaz.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2022