LAHORE: With less than five months left before the World Cup begins, Younis Khan was given a clear message by national selectors on Wednesday as they axed the seasoned batsman from the ODI squad for the Australia series in the UAE while picking a few young yet under-performing players.

While Umar Amin, Raza Hasan and Anwar Ali were named in both ODI and T20 teams, young Saad Nasim was given the T20 call.

Chief selector Moin Khan announced the T20 squad for the one-off slam-bang game on Oct 5 in Dubai while also naming the ODI team for the three-match series. The announcement of the party for the two-match Test rubber was delayed.

Two separate Pakistan ‘A’ squads were also named by the selection committee chief. The first squad will play a four-day warm-up against Australia while the other team will face the UAE in a one-day series.

Younis, 36, was recalled into the ODI team during the recently concluded tour to Sri Lanka held in August this year after a 17-month absence from ODI scene. However, the right-handed batsman could just play one ODI in Sri Lanka scoring three runs, before returning home in an emergency owing to his nephew’s death.

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Umar, Saad, Raza named for Australia limited-overs games

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The selectors axed Younis — a veteran of 254 ODIs with 7,017 runs under his belt — from the ODI team for failure in just one match (in Sri Lanka). On the other hand, it is also a fact that the seasoned batsman’s one-day batting has taken a marked dip in recent times — his last half-century came eight innings ago, against India back in December 2012 at Chennai.

Moin tried to justify Younis’ ouster, saying the selectors wanted to give exposure to young guns for the World Cup — now less than five months away.

“No doubt, Younis is one of the best batsmen the country has produced and certainly this [axing] is not the end of his career; any batsman could stage a comeback in future, but keeping in view the forthcoming World Cup we need young blood in the team,” Moin stated.

But if performance is part of the selection criterion, then how 24-year-old left-handed batsman Umar Amin was named in both (ODI and T20) squads, remains a big question.

“Umar has done well in the ongoing national T20 tournament and he has also improved his fitness considerably,” Moin reckoned, indicating that perhaps fitness — above performance — has become the topmost criteria for selection.

However, sources told Dawn, Umar was the choice of head coach Waqar Younis who has significant belief in the youngster’s abilities.

“In the past, Waqar openly backed Umar in getting him selected for the England tour and it seems the coach retains the same faith in Umar’s credentials,” sources in the PCB added.

“If Waqar staunchly supported Umar, the chief selector pleaded Anwar Ali’s case and Ijaz Ahmed [one of the selectors] trusts Raza Hasan’s quality; all three players were inducted into both ODI, T20 teams,” sources further said.

To a question on who will be the third ODI opener, Moin handed a surprising response, saying he believes both Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shehzad would play all the three ODIs but in case of fitness problem to any of these two, either Umar or Asad Shafiq would be tested as opener.

Interestingly, Umar and Asad have not yet played as opener even on domestic circuit.

Commenting on a view that Shahid Afridi was likely to bat at eighth spot if the batting order announced by the selectors was taken into consideration, Moin said that testing any player at any particular position would be decided by the coach.

Meanwhile, one feels young Raza, who has been included as specialist spinner, could only be picked in playing XI if Pakistan took the field with two pace bowlers.

It is because the selectors have decided to play with specialist wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who has justified his position in the team by producing a fine show with the bat in the Sri Lanka Test series.

In the past, however, Umar Akmal has been playing dual-role as wicket-keeper and batsman, too which permitted the team management to play either with an extra bowler or a batsman.

Earlier, dispelling the impression there was a deadlock on Younis’ selection, Moin said all the stakeholders including captains and coach were consulted but the final decision was taken by the selection committee.

There is also a report that Shoaib Mohammad, a selection committee member, had not attended any meeting of the committee, which first met in Lahore and then in Karachi, before announcing the national squads.

He said the delay in announcing the national teams occurred because the T20 camp was also in progress, adding the T20 Cup could have been devalued had the selectors announced the teams on Sept 16.

In all, four players were inducted into the ODI team while five were shown the door. While Umar Amin, Sarfraz, Raza and Asad were called up, Younis, Mohammad Talha, Sharjeel Khan and Zulfiqar Babar along with banned Saeed Ajmal were out.

Several changes were made in the T20 team. Saad Nasim, Umar Amin, Awais Zia, Raza, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz and Anwar Ali were selected while Ajmal, along with Junaid Khan, Kamran Akmal, Talha, Sharjeel, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul and Zulfiqar were dropped.

In the Pakistan ‘A’ team named for a four-day warm up, the selectors, quite unusually, denied Test specialists Younis and Azhar Ali chance to get some practice before Pakistan begin the two-Test series against Australia.

Reuters adds: A determined-looking Younis told reporters in Karachi he had not given up hope of playing at the World Cup.

“I will do my best to force my way back into the ODI side. I have no plans to retire from this format as yet,” Younis said.

Squads:

ODI: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan.

T20: Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood, Owais Zia, Saad Nasim, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Bilawal Bhatti, Anwar Ali, Sohail Tanvir.

Pakistan ‘A’ squad (for four-day warm-up): Shaan Masood, Ahmed Shehzad, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq (captain), Haris Sohail, Israrullah, Adnan Akmal, Raza Hasan, Karamat Ali, Imran Khan, Attaullah, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Talha.

Pakistan ‘A’ one-day squad (against UAE): Sohaib Maqsood (captain), Sami Aslam, Sharjeel Khan, Nasir Jamshed, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Ehsan Adil, Imran Khan, Zafar Gohar, Bismillah Khan (wicket-keeper), Karamat Ali, Bilawal Bhatti, Adil Amin, Usman Shinwari, Attaullah.

Published in Dawn, September 25th , 2014