da marjack bet： The Pakistan cricket selectors retained controversial fastbowler Shoaib Akhtar and recalled forgotten man Shadab Kabirin the 16-man squad for Bangladesh tour starting Jan 2
Mohammad Yaqoob15-Dec-2001The Pakistan cricket selectors retained controversial fastbowler Shoaib Akhtar and recalled forgotten man Shadab Kabirin the 16-man squad for Bangladesh tour starting Jan 2.Shoaib has been named after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)rejected International Cricket Council’s offer to utilizethe services of West Indian Michael Holding.Shoaib, currently in Stage 2 after being reported twice thisyear, will be banned for a year if he gets on the wrong sideof the umpires and match referee again in Bangladesh.Shoaib is presently playing club cricket in Australia andhas been given a clean sheet by Western Australia Universitywhich also cleared Sri Lankan spinner Muthiah Muralitharan.The PCB has urged the ICC to consider Shoaib as a specialcase and constitute a medical board to examine the findingsof the Perth institution.The squad includes no surprises and all the players, more orless, select themselves.Shadab has earned the selectors nod after averaging 48.57 inthe Patron’s Trophy. He edges out fellow left-hander ImranFarhat who accumulated 733 runs and averaged 56.38.Shadab last played for Pakistan against Zimbabwe in 1996-97after making his debut on the 1996 tour to England withWasim Akram’s squad.Taufiq Umer, who slammed a century on debut againstBangladesh at Multan, was included in the side after hepassed a fitness test for a suspected injured knee.The selectors also decided to make three changes for theone-day squad.Shahid Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Azhar Mahmood will bolsterthe team for the shorter version. They will replace FaisalIqbal, Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Sami although Faisal mayfind himself a bit unlucky to be branded only a Test player.Faisal is an excellent fielder besides being an improvizer.He could have made a one-day player. With Saeed Anwar,Shadab and Taufiq picked as openers and Naved Latif alsoscoring a century at the top of the order, either of thefour could have been dropped to accommodate Faisal.On the domestic front, wrist spinner Mushtaq Ahmad (39wickets) and paceman Waqar Ahmad (51 wickets) and Abdur Rauf(50 wickets) might consider themselves unlucky not to earnplaces. But fact of the matter is that they are tied withDanish Kaneria and a battery of experienced fast bowlers.Danish captured 12 wickets against Bangladesh at Multanwhereas Wasim has 414 Test wickets, Waqar Younis is thecaptain and Sami and Shoaib are promising future quickies.Squad: Saeed Anwar, Taufiq Umar, Faisal Iqbal,Inzamamul Haq (vice-captain), Yousuf Youhana, Naved Latif,Younis Khan, Rashid Latif, Saqlain Mushtaq, Danish Kaneria,Waqar Younis (captain), Wasim Akram, Mohammad Sami, AbdurRazzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shadab Kabir.Manager: Yawar Saeed.Coach: Mudassar Nazar.