Shakeel Abbasi is also

Apart from the three experienced players, others who were given rest by the selectors are goalkeeper Nasir Ahmad and Sajjad Anwar, saying that all the seniors did not show spark and commitment during the national hockey championship and training camp.

“As the seniors were asking for rest after a pathetic show at the World Cup, we have decided to give all the seniors a break as they seemed to be under severe stress. The kind of stress they have was evident from their body language during the national championship and the training camp. Considering this scenario, we are introducing young players for the forthcoming event,” chief selector Hanif Khan told media at Hockey Club of Pakistan.

Hanif, however, made it clear that the axed experienced players would be welcomed in future if they showed commitment and proved physical fitness.

Asked if the senior players could be rested permanently, the chief selector said it all depended on their performance and commitment in the future.

Among the World Cup squad members who have been retained are Muhammad Imran, Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Rashid, Fareed Ahmad, Haseem Khan, Muhammad Zubair, Umar Bhutta and Muhammad Rizwan.

Imran has been named captain, while Waqas Sharif will be his deputy.

Goalkeeper Imran Butt will be making his debut along with Kashif Ali, Zeeshan Ali, Muhammad Tauseeq, Abdul Qayyum, and Kashif Ali.

The current lot would be a new-look squad in the real sense after radical changes as three key players - Zeeshan Ashraf, Waseem Ahmad and Akhtar Ali - apparently have already requested the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for “rest”.

Nevertheless, the radical changes in the squad smelt fishy. While Rehan and Nasir were expected to be dropped, it was being anticipated that Sohail would be the captain, while Shakeel was also one of the contenders for captaincy.

Sources told Dawn.com that it was only after PHF's intervention that Sohail and Shakeel were dropped along with some others. It was basically done as the federation feared that on being dropped Rehan and Nasir might become hostile and join the campaign against the PHF secretary Asif Bajwa being run by a group of Olympians after Pakistan's 12^th place finish in the World Cup.

While PHF claims that Zeeshan, Waseem, and Akhtar had requested for rest, sources said, in fact the three players along with Sohail and Rehan were asked by Asif after the national championship to skip the Azlan Shah Cup as the secretary expected that they would be dropped and create a storm against the federation.

Astonishingly, team manager-cum-coach, Khwaja Junaid till April 18 was not expecting radical changes in the squad which participated in the World Cup.

“It is true that I was not expecting any major changes (in the team which played at World Cup). But when I saw the senior players in the camp, they were under stress,” Junaid told Dawn.com.

Although selectors have taken a bold step by infusing young blood in Pakistan hockey after a long time, if one analyses the current squad, few decisions certainly seem debatable.

For instance, full-back Muhammad Ateeq, who was the top scorer of the recently-concluded national championship, has been overlooked, preferring inexperienced Kashif Ali. Ateeq has been included in the list of standbys along with Wasif Siddiqui, Zaheer Ahmad, Usman Tariq, Muhammad Bilal, Adeel Hussain and Shahbaz Ali.

Umar's inclusion is also strange as before making his international debut the forward used to be reserve right-in of his department team Habib Bank (HBL). Ironically, first-choice right-in of HBL Azlan Khan was not even among the probables. Likewise, Qayyum got selectors' nod despite being HBL's standby left-out. 

Ironically, while Hanif saw all the matches of the national championship, selector Arshad Chaudhry arrived after a week, while Musadiq Hussain left after a few days for Quetta where he is station manager with PIA. Moreover, it was only Hanif who saw the camp training while his selectors only came to see the trials.

Interestingly, contrary to the tradition, neither Asif nor PHF president Qasim Zia was present during the trials, perhaps to avoid the media after the radical changes.

Squad

Goalkeepers Imran Shah, Imran Butt.

Full-backs Muhammad Imran (captain), Amir Shahzad, Kashif Ali.

Half-backs Muhammad Irfan, Fareed Ahmad, Muhammad Rashid, Zeeshan Ali, Muhammad Tauseeq.

Forwards Waqas Sharif, Shafqat Rasool, Haseem Khan, Muhammad Zubair, Muhammad Rizwan, Abdul Qayyum, Kashif Ali, Umar Bhutta.

Officials Khwaja Junaid (manager-cum-coach), Ahmad Alam and Muhammad Ajmal (assistant coaches).