Rehan Butt, Waseem Ahmad and Shakeel Abbasi return to the Pakistan side for their tour of Europe next month. -Photo courtesy FIH

KARACHI  Selectors took a U-turn on Thursday when they unexpectedly recalled underperforming Rehan Butt, Waseem Ahmad and Shakeel Abbasi for Pakistan hockey team's tour of Europe next month.

Apart from the trio, call-up to goalkeeper Salman Akbar is also surprising as the goalie ignored the invitation for the Azlan Shah Cup camp and left to play in a league abroad after the World Cup debacle.

Another veteran brought back into the fold is full-back Zeeshan Ashraf who was one of the three who “requested for rest” after the World Cup in New Delhi. Zeeshan along with Rehan, full-back Sohail Abbas, half-back Waseem, and forward Akhtar Ali, were in fact asked by Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Asif Bajwa to “take rest”, although they were invited for the Azlan Shah Cup camp.

While Zeeshan, Akhtar and Waseem obeyed, Sohail joined the camp which also forced Rehan to report. Both Rehan and Sohail were chopped by the selection committee led by Olympian Hanif, saying it wanted to “give them rest” as they did not show spark and commitment during the training camp.

Akhtar failed to earn selectors' nod for forthcoming tour, while goalkeeper Nasir Ahmad was once again put on the chopping block in favour of Salman who miserably flopped at the World Cup.

Although the return of Zeeshan is understandable, considering the fragile defence, inclusion of Rehan, Waseem and Shakeel is incomprehensible as they certainly never performed extraordinarily during the camp - a reason for which Rehan and Shakeel were axed in the first place for the Azlan Shah Cup.

Not only did Rehan and Shakeel remain underachievers at the World Cup, there are reports that they also had a tiff which was one of the reasons for team's poor show at the 12-nation event.

The present scenario suggests that either the selectors took a wrong step when they “rested” Rehan, Shakeel and others for Azlan Shah Cup or they have blundered now as selection committee was elated on the performance of the young and new-look squad which finished fifth in Ipoh without having seniors.

Although the selectors announced the senior and whites squads, sources said Rehan, Waseem, and Shakeel have been included on the insistence of the new coach Michel van den Heuvel who is perhaps the first foreign coach in Pakistan and professional coach in the world who has accepted the existence of the selection committee.

Rehan also supported this thought when he categorically said that he and other senior players, not selected by the selection committee earlier, had been called up on the wish of the coach.

“You know better than me how things work here. I mean we have a Pakistani system and people compromise on several things in Pakistan hockey. But a foreign coach never thinks like this. He just selects the team on merit. I and other senior players who were not selected have been invited only on coach's wish,” Rehan had told Dawn.com few days before the team announcement.

Hanif, however, had denied that the veterans had been called to the training camp on Heuvel's wish, saying the selection committee was very much in control and independent.

Asked had he been the coach, would he have accepted the selection committee's existence, Hanif replied in negative.

“These senior players were invited by the selection committee and not the coach. As far as the selection committee is concerned, I would have submitted by own squad without any inference and input from anywhere. I would have dictated my terms and conditions in selection matters as a coach,” Hanif told Dawn.com.

Roelant Oltmans, another Dutchman in-charge of green shirts in 2004, had vehemently stated he would be the sole authority for the selection which had made the Akhtar Rasool-led selection committee redundant.

Hanif, however, said the squad had been formed after getting the input from Heuvel which was a usual practice in Pakistan hockey.

 “This squad has been formed after consultations and consensus. The seniors were not discarded earlier and they are not discarded now. They were just rested and those senior players who are not selected are also being rested,” Hanif told reporters at Hockey Club of Pakistan.

Hanif was particularly all praise for Muhammad Tauseeq, saying “he could become another Akhtar Rasool.” One hopes Hanif was referring to Akhtar's skills as a hockey player not as a politician.

Zeeshan, who captained the national side at the World Cup, will once again wear captain's band, while Muhammad Imran, who was skipper in Ipoh, will be vice-captain.

While PHF is unaware of the whereabouts of penalty corners specialist Sohail, the full-back is reportedly playing in a league in Bangladesh.

Pakistan senior side will play matches in Spain against the hosts and France before games against the Netherlands. The tour, which starts from July 10 ends on 18.

According to Hanif, five senior camp trainees - Imran Butt, Tasawar Abbas, Zeeshan Ali, Kashif Ali and Abdul Qayyum Dogar - have been selected for Pakistan Whites who are to tour China to play a four-nation tournament from July 7 to 11.

Interestingly, Mohsin Bilal, Abdul Ghaffar and Qayyum have been mentioned as Pakistan Customs players, although the department doesn't have a hockey squad and did not even field a team in the national championship this year.

Seniors squad