Change of guard and recalls

Change of guard and recalls

The Pakistan Cricket Board, on Thursday, announced the national squads for next month’s tour of Sri Lanka. Three separate teams were announced for all three formats of the game, with Mohammad Hafeez being appointed captain for the Twenty20 squad in place of Misbah-ul-Haq.

Besides the change at the helm of the T20 squad, a few surprise recalls were handed out to players previously discarded from the national side. These included Mohammad Sami, Imran Farhat, Tanvir Ahmed, Faisal Iqbal, Sohail Tanvir, Khalid Latif and Yasir Arafat.

Some uncapped players have also been selected for the different parts of the tour, including Haris Sohail, Raza Hasan, Shakeel Ansar, Rahat Ali, Ayub Dogar and Afaq Raheem.

The selection has been met with a varying reaction from the cricket fans. While some have hailed the replacement of Misbah by Hafeez, others have said Shahid Afridi should have been given the reins. The opportunities provided to domestic performers have been welcomed, especially in the Twenty20 squad where players like Shakeel Ansar and Haris Sohail stood out in recent tournaments.

The most controversial decision, however, has been that of the recalls.

Which players deserved another chance to perform for the national side?

Who should have been dropped?

Which of the new faces are the best prospects for Pakistan?

Is Mohammad Hafeez the right choice to lead Pakistan in the future?

Dawn.com invites its readers to express their views and debate the team selection…

 

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99 Responses to “Change of guard and recalls”

  1. A good analysis. Mishnah should remain the captain. His age of 38 does not matter. How you lead the team and past performance to prove this matters.

    • syed ahsan says:

      Afridi should have been the captain. Misbah should retire from T-20. Owais Zia should have been included. Lets not take a risk and have Sarfaraz Ahmed keep the wickets for T-20 World Cup.

    • javaid says:

      I believe that age does matter in cricket
      And also feel that hafiz is right choice i do not believe on ijaz butt
      Anylsis as this man has No cricketing brain.
      He should refrain himself from talking about pakistan cricket

  2. Rizwan Kazim says:

    I believe the decision of M Hafeez to lead in T20 is good move by PCB. Although a bit late, but its time to find a successor for Misbah. As far as recall is concerned, Imran Farhat is a total waste of time and effort. A better option could have been Imran Nazeer or Shahzad

  3. Kanishk says:

    Only time will tell whether this was a right decision or not. I think Hafeez would be a little more aggressive and slightly more calculative than Misbah. But I still have my reservations about his pedigree as a class player. His batting is yet to be proven against a class opposition in tough conditions and his bowling can be described restrictive at the best. Though I must say that he is a useful T20 player. There is no doubt that Afridi leads the team with a lot more passion (if not mind) than any of his peers. No one can question his commitment as a leader or as a player. My vote would have been for Afridi for sure, but his earlier tantrums might well have gone against him during the decision making.
    All the best though for the team and I hope they play the entertaining brand of cricket which they are known for. Just keep Kamran Akmal at bay and try to bring in some more exciting fast bowlers (clean ones please) to the fore, which has always been Pak’s strength.
    Great to know that 1 Pakistan team has been allowed for the CL T20. All the best (from an Indian, who is hindu too).

  4. Hyder Ebrahim says:

    Dear Sir,

    The T20 world cup is just around the corner and appointing a new captain is simply insane. It is good that the selection committee has resisted the temptation of recalling Muhamed Yusuf but recalling Sami, Faisal Iqbal and Imran Farhat could end as sour grapes. Abdul Razzak has Preferred to play in BPL and Pakistan has suffered enough defeats through butter fingers of Kamran Akmal. Omar Akmal’s continued selection despite ordinary performances is puzzling.

    Well being a keen follower of Pakistan cricket team I wish the team best of luck. Pakistan Zindabad

  5. saad says:

    by what logic are likes of Akmal and Yusuf excluded, yet the likes of Sami come back?

    Also, Hafeez is the right guy. Misbah is a choker

    • Ahmed says:

      I cant thank PCB enough for dropping this catch-drop-e-AZAM (also “torture-e-azam) Kamran Akmal from the team. Good riddance. All the recalls can be justified on one pretext or the other especially Tanvir Ahmed and Yasir Arafat who were dropped without much reason. However, why recall Farhat and Sohail Tanvir. Both of them have proved time and again that they dont belong to the top level, especially Farhat. Anyway, this selection committee seems like doinga much better job than the previoius one.

  6. Jalbani Baloch says:

    All is great. Pakistan is great. Pakistani team is great. But is there any one to tell, how many a time Sindhi or Balochis have been given place to be part of this National Team, while bearing in mind that before partition, Sindhis were part of Hindustan’s National Team. So, please open up this national game to all people of Pakistan including Sindh and Balochistan.

    • Balwanjee says:

      I agree with you. I still remember the great Sindhi cricketers Ramchand and Girdhari, who toured Pakistan in 1955, with Indian team. I was high school student at that time.

    • Zahid says:

      Mr. Jalbani Baloch, though your point is debatable, but it is not up to the topic under discussion.

    • Fakhir says:

      I think in order for Baluchi and Sindhi brothers to get selected, their vast numbers have to start playing cricket instead of blindly following corrupt PPP and thinking supporting PPP would somehow get them lucrative employment opportuntiies.The popularity of cricket amongst youth in Karachi and Hyderabad in Sindh, all cities of Punjab and now increasingly in citieis in KP mean that people from these areas only are getting to the top level. So my suggestion is first produce the critical mass of players and then hope that Sindhis and Baluchis will get representation in cricket team.

  7. asadak says:

    PCB once again select a useless players who have been tried again and again.
    Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal and shoaib malik are 3 obvious parchi players.
    Imran father in law Ilyas, faisal nephew of javed and Malik parchi of a minister.
    also other useless players are Sami,tanveer ahmed, yasir arafat.
    Professor will be a failure captain,his strike rate as a batsman is lower than Younis, but he is being made captain cause of Misbah, both play for Faisalabad team.

  8. ram says:

    Looks like All Bloggers are similar to Experts at private TV Channels…

    Minus ABC knowledge….How say Parchi players….Why not Parchi Selecters

  9. Shabut says:

    I just don’t get why people keep insisting for Afridi. It has been proven time and over again that he does not have a stable mind to be a captain. He has quit cricket for at least twice before, he has danced on the pitch knowing that he’s being seeing live, he has chewed on the ball in front of millions of viewers. I don’t think you need any more reasons to not consider Afridi as a captain.

    Those recalls are also ridiculous

  10. Rizwan - US says:

    I highly doubt that Hafeez will be a successful captain as advising someone else in-charge is a bit different than making the decisions yourself. I am also a bit concerned about groupings in the team as well since Hafeez has been given a chance in the presence of God knows how many captains.

    Ahmed Shehzad is a welcome comeback. I would love to see Imran Nazir back in the side.

    Lastly, I would like to wish Men in Green all the best for a very tough and challenging tour to the Lions den. May you bring the glory back to the cricket crazy nation/country.

  11. Mkhurram says:

    Agreed with different teams for different formats and the Professor in command for T20s. The Recalls are the headaches (maybe Sami has put some genuine efforts) but others as usual seems parchee.

    Also more importantly, Why try an Ageing Faisal Iqbal with flopped records in tests rather than a well proven master class of Mohammad Yousuf ?

    • Haq says:

      I agree. Yousuf would have been better choice for recall, based on class and skills alone. If you are recalling a mediocre Faisal Iqbal and useless Sami and Farhat, they have been all given enough chances to prove themselves yet never were able to make their place permanent.

      Yasir Arafat has never been given enough consistent chances to perform, maybe this time in T20, since he is world wide player in T20 tournaments.

  12. Kamal Beg says:

    I think Hafeez will be a great captain. The guy has a good cricketing brain. Afridi is a very unpredictable player to begin with. His batting lately has fallen out of cliff. He does not have a good temperament for batting and is only dangerous for few overs. In T20 if Shahid Afridi does not play like Shahid Afridi then he might have a chance to lead the team in the shorter format of the game. With T20 world cup around the corner it will be a good litmus test for Hafeez’s captaincy.

    • ram says:

      Can say Good captain….Why great captain!!!

      Already a mediocre….More burden..

      Find a strong will man like Imran or Witty like Javed miadad

  13. The selection committee has done its job by picking-up the best possible team in the three formats of the game. Now it is up to the players to prove their real talents and mettle on the field by giving their best performance thus justifying their selection.

    Regarding the merits and demerits of the selection of various players is concerned, it is futile to talk about them because whatever we feel, think or say, is not going to make any effect on the three teams which are already been selected. Nevertheless, it was the right time to replace Misbah-ul-Haq from the T20 squad because no matter how good a player and skipper he might be, the time and age is not on his side.

    Hopefully, the new skipper will lead from the front and galvanize the whole team under his able command and captaincy or not? Best of luck to the ‘green-shirts’ in their up-coming series against Sri Lanka under some very hot and humid playing conditions.

  14. Salman Arif says:

    Good to see Hafeez as a captain of T20 team. Hope that Umar Akmal will not be given a role of wicket keeper in ODIs and T20 in the presence of recognized wicket keeper. Sami, Imran Farhat and Faisal Iqbal are the pathetic selection, they have been given 100s of chances to prove themselves at international level but failed
    Sami bowling average in test matches is 52.27
    Faisal Iqbal test batting average is 26.76 with only one century in 26 matches
    Imran Farhat has scored only one century in 50 ODIs

    • Chaigram says:

      Well said Salman the stats speak for themselves. I wish the selectors had considered this rather who they are related to. This is the story of Pak cricket.

  15. Waseem says:

    Pathetic selection.why imran farhat recalled and not i nazir. And why malik is not in one day team when he proved himself in domestic.

  16. Shaeel says:

    I believe picking up new faces was inevitable for the selectors however, recalling Faisal instead of Fawad Alam (for middle order) and an aged Ayub is no match for Mohammad Yousaf (one of the great batsman Pakistan has produced in recent years) remained a questionable selection process. Furthermore, Sarfaraz should have been given a thorough opportunity to establish after Kamran Akmal in all formats. I have great hopes from Rahat Ali instead of Sami or Wahab Riaz.

    • Tarique Aslam Qureshi says:

      Totally agreed on what you said about Yousuf.
      Why try an new aging player when you have a master available

  17. Capt.Hasan says:

    Alas!!! bowling was the only impressive department we had in our team. After Wasim akram and Waqar Younis only a bit impressive bowler we had was Shoaib Akhter. Now Umer Gul is holding up but for how long…. absolutely nothing impressive came out of the new lot. Sami is the only choice we have.
    About batting First 6 overs in T20 are with feild restrictions Hafiz or Imran Ferhat are not the players to open the innings of T20. Imran Nazir should have been considered…. Any Captain who is not consistent in his own personal performance cannot command a team. What power he has over other players if he himself is performing poor in a particular match.

  18. Ali Ghauri says:

    enjoy watching Parchii team on ground once again :)

    • Shaeel says:

      I agree partly as 25% selection in all formats are based on regional politics or more politely on Parchi system or

  19. mudassir mughal says:

    sohail tanvir shuld not called again .we have experirnced him a lot mow he is a wasted player and hafeez deserves 2 lead and giving chance 2 youngsters is a god decision.

  20. Tarique Aslam Qureshi says:

    In my opinion, the choice of Hafeez, the nicknamed ‘professor’ in the team is a meritorious one but probably not in a time when we had an experienced captain in Afridi available. This may call for another round of grouping in the team.

    The selection of strong bench presence through new names should be welcome, but decision of recalling a few seem vulnerable. How many no. of times will the squad see the return of Imran Farhat, a name that is commonly disliked in masses. Its nice to see new names like Raheem, Ayub, Rahat, Haris and Dogar coming in, but will there be any answers to why the greatest talents like Anwar Ali are ignored again. Just browse through their recent performances and the stats clearly show how much better Anwar Ali is to the others. I feel for this young lad, who showed great potential in 2006 though U19 world cup, and is yet to make it to the national squad. The Indian young blood (Rohit and Jadeja) that he had made look clueless with his performance then, have already played over 30 matches in the national squad and yet Anwar has only been capped for one T20 that too 4 years back. Will anyone be able to stop the masses to think that this is another instance of ignoring the talent of Karachi.

    The choice of Tanvir Ahmed and Mohammad Sami remains another source of frustration to supporters who wait for a good young one making it through to the playing eleven. And if Tanvir and Sami, why not the legend Yousuf.

    The biggest surprise is Shoaib Malik’s induction in T20s only. He has done everything a domestic player should do to make it to both limited international 11, but he has been made part of only one format which in itself may not give him enough to cement his place through two fixtures in the tour.

    Conclusion: Strong teams, yet a lot of question marks that continue to irk the national team supporters.

  21. Tahir Amjad says:

    PCB decision to appoint Hafeez as T20 captain is good.. He is much better than Afridi who in my opinion does not deserve to be part of playing 11 even, as he is lost his batting & is only acceptable as leg spinner.
    Imran farhat,Faisal iqbal,Sami are only a waste.some more new faces should have been given a chance to groom.
    we badly need one or two quality batsmen like Inzi & yousaf.Where i9s Whab Riaz?
    finaly..my prediction about Afridi,Sami,Faisal,& Farhat is that their performance in Sri Lanka will be a sheer disappointment.

  22. Muhammad Naeem Khalid says:

    They selected Faisal iqbal against Muhmmad Yousaf what a stopped decision. what is the career record of Faisal Iqbal. It is injustice. Muhammad Yousaf is legend he should be given a chance to get 10 thousand runs.

  23. Capt Mansur says:

    Disappointed in recalls. We know Imran, Sami etc are useless at International level.
    I am not sure if Hafeez has leadership quality but never mind we must check him out otherwise Misbah is always there.

  24. yasir says:

    Faisal Iqbal is such a disgraced always get a chance due to his approach (being Miandad nephew)

  25. Rizwan Hamid says:

    Mohammad Hafeez is the perfect choice and a deserving captain. You can see from his face that he is thinking and scheming at all times instead of just bowling his quota. Afridi on the other hand, tries too much to prove for the media that he is “incharge” and never shuts up . He should leave his bowlers alone after giving them directions, not follow them all the way to their run up and never stop talking.
    Misbah is very good, but a pessimist. No one likes to see a test match heading for a draw when we need 4 runs an over to win with plenty of time and a target of around 280. No one remembers that we did not lose. We all remember the frustration that he did not try. It does not matter if we lose trying,for it is good for cricket. In a captain we need the qualities of an Imran Khan. I think Hafeez can be that person although somewhat different. He also leads by example, therefore for that alone he needs to be rewarded.
    Recalling Faisal Iqbal is OK if the selectors think he has improved. Imran Farhat on the other hand is a total waste of time and depriving another deserving future player. You can predict with certainity that he will get out cutting the ball. We have seen it so many times, that as punishment alone, he should not be picked, for he refuses to temper his way in playing that shot. He got paid to do a job, he never bothered to deliver in a sensible and responsible way.
    Sami is still a better bowler than Wahab Riaz. Wahab’s bad qualities in bowling are similar to Imran Frahat in batting. He does not learn from his mistakes. Don’t we have other fast bowlers in the pipe line?
    Pakistan is known as the fast bowler’s production machine. I guess it’s more hype than reality. But then if Kamran Akmal lasted 4 years too many, politics must play a bigger role in selection than talent.
    Let us hope we can come up with a winning combination. God only know we need it. As a percentage of population, Pakistan had one of the worst records in the world in producing world class atheletes or sportsmen. To finish at the near bottom in Asian games is as shameful as it gets, what to talk of on the world arena.

    • Sumair says:

      Lets not forget after the spot fixing scam Afridi led the team to semi finals of both T20 and WC. Infact he made a major contribution in Asia Cup final against BD.

      SL series is yet to start; difference in leading the team would be proven soon.

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