Pakistan announced its test squad for its upcoming series against Sri Lanka in UAE on Sunday and while the team wore a familiar look, there were a few notable inclusions and omissions.
Aizaz Cheema, who impressed on his debut in Zimbabwe recently, got the nod ahead of Tanvir Ahmed in the 15-man team. Ahmed, who has been a consistent performer for Pakistan in the absence of the banned Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir and has played a good foil to Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz, has been included as a standby.
While Junaid Khan has shown a glimpse of his talent, his inclusion also comes as a bit of a surprise ahead of Ahmed considering the team already has a left-arm pacer in Riaz.
Umar Akmal, who has been erratic in the test arena, has made way for the experienced Shoaib Malik.
The squad is as follows:
Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Asad Shafiq, Imran Farhat, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan.
Standbys: Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Talha, Sarfraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah.
The batting department is packed with experienced but has a surprising inclusion in Imran Farhat.
Is the left-handed Farhat, who has made a unexpected return to the test squad, the right-choice to partner Mohammad Hafeez at the top of the innings if he is picked ahead of Taufiq Umar?
What effect will Farhat’s inclusion, who has had an extended run and failed in international cricket, have on some of the younger batsmen trying to make it to the top?
Subject to pitch conditions, who should partner Gul and Riaz as the third seamer? And who will be in your XI for the first test that starts in Abu Dhabi on October 18?
The second test will be played from October 26-30 in Dubai, while the third test will take place in Sharjah from November 3-7.
Dawn.com invites its readers to give their views and suggestions.
I m glad Umar Gul is back in action. After 2 Ws he is the only bowler which is very interesting to watch.
I think Mohammad Yousuf should be in the test side because his test record speak itself so I think it is been great injustice to him.
My Team,
M. Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Misbah Ul Haque, Adnan Akmal, Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal
I think tanvir is not a big surprise he has no pace and on flat U.A.E wickets its pointless, cheema worked hard to finally get a call from pcb and deserves his chance since he took 8 wickets on debut. Imran Farhat should be dropped. As far as fawad and khurram they are also in imran farhats category. Kaneria and sami are the reason pakistan was terrible in the 00’s thanks God they are out and should stay out. It is not biased against khi players Asad Shafiq is good and he deserves his spot not the rest.
Tanvir performing against SA v/s Cheema performing against ZIM. Which one is better?
Wasn’t Tanvir pretty decent against South Africa in UAE?
Imran Farhat is the worst opener in the history of Pakistan , how is he in the team is beyond me , its a shame for Pakistan which is a country full of talent that we have such players still some how make their way in the team.
I think most of us (or is it all or us?) agree that Farhat should not be in the team. There are many talented and more capable youngsters waiting in the ranks. Tanvir should have retained his place after the way he troubled the Proteas in last UAE series. If Aizaz deserved a place, then Tanvir should have been retained in place of Junaid who needs some grooming before being pitched against Lankans.
My playing XI would be:
Hafeez, Taufiq, Azhar, Younis, Misbah, Asad, Adnan, Saeed, Umar, Wahab, A Rehman/Aizaz (subject to pitch condition)
He is a disaster….he makes 50’s against minnow teams and sticks in the team for a year.Fails to perform consistently or against a good team then eventually gets dropped. Doesn’t get picked for a series , makes his connections or his father in Law makes some connections and he is back in the team. And the circus continues
Even Hasan Raza performed well in Faysal T20 but still no importance to Karachi players :@
Please no ethnicity. Hasan Raza has got many chances but he failed. His inning in T20 was also not match winning. Asad Shafiq and Younus Khan is a product of KCCA. Fawad Alam has got many chances but failed. Nasir Jamshed is still to get proper chance. Actually, it is not a matter of city but PR/contacts which also works in selection. If Faisal Iqbal had some source, he came back without deserve despite of his city but Naveed Yasin cannot despite of his performance though he belongs to Punjab. So, please dont ake everything to ethnicity.BTW I am also from Khi.
I believe Malik’s inclusion is fair given his performance in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy plus the T20 championship, where he led his team to another title
I really don’t know why Imran Farhat has been selected again. Such a mediocre batsman, has never really played a single good innings, poor technique, cannot even be compared with the Watsons and Cooks. How shameless you have to be to consistently fail, look very mediocre but still go out there and be in the team when a younger, talented and a more deserving player should be in his place? Very, and you also need your father in-law to be one of the selectors.
Regarding the selection of Imran Farhat, I would like the call the performance of Mansoor Akhtar of 80s whose father in law like of Imran Farhat was in executive position of Wills company had a due influence in team selection.
I think Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik based on their domestic performances deserve a position in the test side. The current selection is for test matches I agree with all the selection except Junaid Khan, he still needs to work on his skills batting, bowling, catching and fielding. I think his time could have been better spent in domestic cricket rather then sitting on the bench in UAE. Therefore Tanvir Ahmed may be better choice. I hope Umar Akmal, Hammad Azam, Razzak, Reza Hasan, Sohail Tanvir and Sarfraz Ahmed are selected in the ODI side to replace Azhar Ali, Taufeeq, Adnan, Imran Farhat, Junaid and Rehman. The selection committee should plan ODI side with 2015 in mind. Future replacements for Misbah and Younus should be kept in mind – Umar Amin and Ramiz Raja are invaluable talent that need exposure in BD series.
On domestic performance you can come once, then comeback or then come thrice but if you still failed in international cricket and cannot cement your place than no comeback despite how good your performance in domestic. This is why you cannot see 5 or 6 comebacks in Australian or English cricket. These plenty of comeback create barrier to the new players. can anybody tell the number of comeback of Imran Farhat? maybe 10-15.
i think it’s good fresh and old blood test team , we have young and experienced batsman and bowlers. my playing eleven should like this,
hafeez, taufiq umar , azhar ali, younis khan, asad shafiq, misbah, adnan akmal, saeed ajmal, wahab riaz, umar gul, azeez cheema ,
Pathetic selection indeed. Nothing can change in pakistan thats the reason our country is in shambles. Fawad Alam, Khurram Manzoor and plenty of thers are sitting to get a chance and they keep bringing the ever failure Farhat.Everyone knows Shoaib Malik is not a test player. Pakistani team has become a joke all over the world.
The selection of Imran Farhat goes to show how effective a Father-in -Law can be in Pakistan. Is there nobody else available in the country to be a member of the selection committee than the famous father-in-law ? Mohsin Khan has disappointed as a chief selector. Pakistan should go for grooming young blood like the talented Ahmad Shahzad. For a decade now we have been trying Imran farhat. Isn’t it enough ? Nepotism.
There i sno point in getting Imran Farhat, but similar is the case with Taufeeq umer. They are not our future, they were not the past either.
Get some young blood as openers, we have to create a team. we talk about getting young blood but keep bringing the old unwanted ones every now and then.
I think its the right team, although I would have included Sharjeel Khan instead of Farhat. The best team would be Hafeez, Taufiq, Azhar, Younis, Misbah, Ashad Shafiq, Adnan, Riaz, Gul, Ajmal, Cheema. I think Malik should only be playing in ODI and T20, and Younis Khan should only be playing in Test cricket. Also, in the next series I think we should replace Farhat with Sharjeel Khan, replace Younis Khan with Azeem Ghumman, and replace Adnan Akmal with Sarfraz Ahmed.
very poor analysis
you need to be fine tune your ideas about younus as you are comparing him with Azeem Ghumman
who failed even in this t20 tournament
please don’t be karachi biased
@ Sameer………Azeem Ghuman is from Hyderabad and by the way, he did wonderfully well in the U19 worldcup. There are so many players that need to be put in shape and groomed for the future. its jingle all the way for PCB….Jungle wud also be a suitable word
Comparison between azeem and Younis is not fair at all but no karachi biase can be seen in it, both sharjeel and Azeem are from hyderabad, where is tanveer Ahmed? How shoaib mailk became automatic choice for playing 11 despite asad’s performance in ODI’s.
Imran Farhat has failed consistently and will fail again , Shoaib Malik likewise has always failed in test cricket. Just consider Pakistan playing with 9 players. Both ofthem have strong under the table support and PCB always likes to pick up such players especially these two time and again. There is absolutely no merit and justification, this actually demotivates the deserving players. Where is the policy to bring up new players as time and again stated by PCB and its hand picked selectors.
I dont understand why a player like Imran Farhat gets so many lifelines. He simply cannot perform. Even a team like a Zimbabwe or Ireland would find a better solution but for some reason, a top side like Pakistan is not ready to replace this man with a real talented player. I have stopped watching cricket after the world cup, nevertheless I wish Pakistan had a better quality team specially with all the talent available out there. India would have moved a player like Sachin had not he performed after getting so many chances, and we are still hoping for a miracle.
Oh yeah…….we all know why Imran Farhat is in the team despite being a complete failure on his previous countless international appearances. He is the favorite Son-in-Law of one of the selection committee member Mohammed Ilyas. I thought Mr. Ilyas was put under indefinite suspension by PCB after his rant against Shahid Afridi. So how come he is still participating in selection process?
Any way, this shows how things work in PCB.
Only Pakistan can sideline a player like Yousuf…
Let’s give them one last and final chance. All smart cricket analysts, academics, experts and players know very well that a right and left hand combination in any batting order is very effective and result oriented for the batting side wherein Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez or not an exception to this golden rule. Both are immensely talented and enterprising cricketers and if they can make the best use of this final opportunity, it will be a win-win situation for the ‘green-shirts’ and the two openers as well.
sorry for you if you rated imran farhat as a very talented player
a complete failure with no technique
and technique is the integral part of a test player
golden rule can also be achieved with haffez and taufeeq (better in technique than farhat)
Why dont they pick Fawad Alam or Khurram Manzoor. Khurram played a great inninigs in Hobart against Australia. Imran Farhat is selected because he has his in-law in the selection committee. He has consistently failed and will fail again. I feel for Karachi players. There definitely is a bias against them. Take the case of Shoaib Malik and Kaneria suspension. Wha t has Shoaib Malik done to deserve a call up?
He, Shoaib Malik, is the second highest runs getter in domestic cricket and recentaly won his team Sialkot Stallions a T20 championship. His average against Srilanka in Tests is above 50. I think that justifies his selection. In past, he has won Pakistan matches .. he is a match winner.
Please also tell us his average against other test playing nations except BD and ZIM.
Has an avrg of above 50 after playing 2 test against Srilanka. heheheh
dear don’t drag discussion into karachi vs lahore
instead it should be what is the best for pakistan cricket and surely farhat is the worst like ijaz butt and ilyas
Completely agree with Rashid: Yousuf should be in the test team – Malik should NOT be in ANY team.
The Farhat question is quite obvious and it is sad that it is so blatant – nepotism at its best: To answer the question – NO Farhat should not be in the team, Taufiq and Hafeez have done an amiable job. Perhaps once Ijaz Butt goes away things might change, but what is with Mohsin being Chief Selector and Coach at the same time…..!!
Yes, Tanvir Ahmed, after his record, should have been selected ahead of Junaid / Aizaz. They should bring back Kaneria as well. We will not have a good leg spinner for some time otherwise.
For the ODIs n T20s – I will be very happy with a return for Afridi and Razzaq both – Please bring them back but please DONT remove Misbah from any captaincy for the next year or so (or even more till he retires).
I still dont kow why the PCB keep on picking a failed cricker at the International stage – Imran Farhat. This guy an OK player at the domestic circuit, he has been failing at the international stage for many years, please PCB stop coming under the pressure of his father in law. There are much better openers in the domestic circuit to pick from.