KARACHI, Feb 2: Taking advantage of the fact that Zimbabwe, everybody’s favourite whipping boys of international cricket along with Bangladesh, were the opponents in the just concluded One-day Internationals, the Salahuddin Ahmed-led national selection committee blooded no less than nine newcomers during the 5-0 whitewash of the hapless tourists.

Nasir Jamshed, the 18-year-old left-handed opener, and left-arm paceman Samiullah Niazi made their debut in the first ODI in Karachi 13 days ago.

The selectors persisted with the same XI for the next match in Hyderabad before giving all-rounder Kamran Hussain his first taste of international cricket at the age of 30 in the Multan ODI.

With the series already decided, fourth game in Faisalabad saw the selectors making four changes to the playing side, including awarding first caps to opener Khalid Latif and Sohail Khan, the pace sensation with 68 first-class scalps already in this his debut season.

And when the caravan moved to Sheikhupura for the final match of the series on Saturday, the newcomers had a field day of sorts as four of them made their international debut — opener Khurram Manzoor, all-rounder Rizwan Ahmed and the pace duo of Abdur Rauf and Wahab Riaz — while taking the number of players representing Pakistan in One-day Internationals to 168.

True to their promise (of giving newcomers opportunities on the international stage), the selectors used the Zimbabwe series to experiment by giving chance to top performers in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship. But it would have been nice if Salahuddin, Saleem Jaffer and Shafqat Rana, the three selectors, had given the same opportunity to each one of the players they included in the squads they had been announcing during the series.

While the national team ‘celebrates’ its first clean sweep in a bilateral one-day series in more than four years — New Zealand were annihilated 5-0 in December 2003 — at least one player has every right to be aggrieved this time.

Naumanullah, by far the leading run-getter this season with over a 1,000 first-class runs who was adjudged the best batsman of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, was named in the 15-man squad.

But poor Nauman, who was widely tipped to play on Saturday, instead watched the game from the sidelines. A consistent performer in domestic cricket over the years, Nauman excelled in Zimbabwe’s four-day tour opener with 86 — an innings which highly impressed the selectors.

Like most of the cricketers on the domestic circuit, Nauman had been dreaming of playing for the country one day, as he almost did eight years ago when England toured Pakistan. A couple of fine displays in side matches put him in contention — he was the 12th man when England tarnished Pakistan’s proud unbeaten Test record at National Stadium by scoring a famous win in darkness — but fate conspired against him and he was left to ply his trade on the domestic front.

Apart from Nauman, medium-pacer Junaid Zia was the only player who was not tried out against Zimbabwe despite been also in the squad for the final ODI. But unlike Nauman, Junaid was then ‘extremely fortunate’ enough to have played for Pakistan in four ODIs against Bangladesh in 2003 when his father Lt Gen Tauqir Zia headed the Pakistan Cricket Board.

It seems highly unlikely now that Nauman, who unfortunately in cricketing terms is not that young since he turns 33 in May, will ever get a chance to figure in international cricket because Pakistan’s next opponents are expected to be Australia who will not give Salahuddin and company any room to experiment or hand out the coveted Pakistan caps at will.

Australia, the benchmark for all teams, are not behind in bringing in new blood, but their players grind hard to earn the baggy green headgear before they get a look in. That’s why the Aussies have been ruling world cricket for almost 13 years now for nothing.