Lahore, 19 December 2023: Chairperson of the national men’s selection committee Wahab Riaz and consultant member Kamran Akmal held a press conference at Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday to announce the 17-member Pakistan squad for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand from 12 January 2024 to 21 January 2024.
Wahab Riaz: “Shadab Khan is a vital member of Pakistan’s T20 setup and a white ball specialist. Unfortunately, he twisted his ankle during the domestic season and he still needs two weeks to recover. We have rested Mohammad Haris in this series. He is part of our plans going forward but to increase our player pool and reward the domestic performers we havde decided to rest him. I hope the selected 17 members of the squad do well on the New Zealand tour.”
Q: What is the rationale behind including three wicketkeepers in the squad?
WR: The squad has been picked in the best interest of the Pakistan team. Haseebullah and Azam Khan are top performers of domestic cricket. Mohammad Rizwan has been doing well in International cricket. Moreover, Pakistan has struggled with backups in recent years. Keeping the T20 World Cup in mind, we want to test some of our players and see where they stand. Haseebullah played some impactful innings in the middle order for Peshawar Zalmi in recent PSL and he has been doing well in domestic cricket for the last couple of years. We want to develop batters for no.4 position to no.7 which has been a dilemma for Pakistan in T20 Cricket. Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, Khushdil Shah and Faheem Ashraf got chances in these positions but failed to create an impact so we want to develop new options going into the WC. We want to develop players like Haseebullah who have a high strike rate and can be helpful in West Indies.
Q: What is the update on Ihsanullah and Naseem Shah’s rehabilitation and are they part of the plans for the T20 World Cup?
WR: Ihsanullah, Shadab Khan, Naseem Shah and Mohammad Hasnain were injured but the good news is that Naseem and Hasnain have recovered a lot. Naseem is continuing his rehab at the NCA. Naseem Shah will be available for Islamabad United in the Pakistan Super League. Mohammad Hasnain will also start his rehab in NCA soon. Unfortunately, Ihsanullah will take more time to recover and I’m not sure about his availability. Shadab Khan will also return to NCA for his rehab.
Q: Why have you dropped Shan Masood and What do you have to say about Azam Khan’s fitness?
WR: We have monitored Azam Khan closely and preferred skills over fitness. The player being match-winner is more important.
I think everyone should welcome the inclusion of new talent. Azam has proven his mettle time and again in PSL and domestic cricket. He has also worked considerably on his fitness. We have given him a clear message and once he returns from the tour you’ll see a difference in his fitness. Shan Masood is not included in the squad even though everyone knows of his skills and experience. Shan is a very talented and skillful player and maybe in the future we can include him in the (T20) squad but this time around we just weren’t able to carve a space out for him.
Q: Are you preparing the back-ups following the footprints of other top teams?
WR: Like I said before, new talent will be crucial to our success going forward. We need younger players to play alongside the more senior players and allow a better combination to emerge. I think the younger players have a lot to learn from the experienced players. Anyone who is not part of the squad should not think that he is not part of the plans.
Q: Do you think the conditions in New Zealand will be tough for our new players?
WR: You see, international cricket is never easy regardless of whether the pitches being favorable or not. I think we should have faith in the ability of our boys to deliver on this tour. This will boost their confidence and eventually allow them to play better cricket. We should not have any fear of failure. We have to give chances to young batters because that has been a cause of concern for us.
Q: Why is Sharjeel Khan not part of the squad?
WR: We already have established players like Babar, Rizwan, Fakhar and highly talented young players like Saim Ayub. So Sharjeel was not considered keeping in mind the quality players available for selection.
Q: Do you think the players overlooked for the selection will not be considered for the World Cup?
WR: We haven’t written off any player. At the moment we have given a chance to our domestic performers and if anyone does well in the PSL then keeping the team’s requirements in mind, we’ll surely select that player.
Q: Kamran what is your take on the selections?
KA: I’m happy with the selection for the New Zealand. We had discussions regarding creating backup in white ball cricket and giving a chance to top performers of domestic cricket. This is the beginning for us and we’ll look to prioritise the domestic performers.
We haven’t written off any player owing to their performance or lack thereof but I do feel we need to give newer talent more opportunity.
Q: What will be the batting order of Pakistan team in New Zealand?
WR: We’ll surely see experiment on the New Zealand tour. Being a selector, my job is to select the best possible talent for the team director and the captain. It depends how they want to run the team. The players we have included from domestic teams will have to be adjusted within our current line-up. The players are aware of this. An opening batter from a domestic team will have to be pushed to the middle order in the national squad if required. We have to ensure that we have a winning combination. This is how it happens everywhere in the world.
Q: What is the logic behind the inclusion of Mohammad Nawaz?
WR: Mohammad Nawaz brings experience to the squad. We also want him to do well going forward. He needs to be consistent going forward. We’ll soon have a chat with him as well.
Q: What are you expecting from this team against New Zealand?
WR: We expect the team to win on this tour. I hope we continue our good form in T20 cricket. The conditions are different but I expect the players to do well.
KA: We have given chances to young players. We expect them to learn from the seniors and do well on this tour. As a selection team we are confident of this squad doing well.
Q: Have you had any conversations with the senior players?
WR: I think most of our senior players biund for this tour have done well over the years. The purpose of selecting young players is that they play around the seniors and learn. The young players can gain confidence from the seniors. It is not necessary that new players permanently occupy the positions due to performances instead they have to make way for the first choice players.
Q: What is your take on Shaheen Shah Afridi’s form?
WR: Shaheen Afridi is a very sensible player and I think he needs our support. He is struggling in Australia but I think we should allow him to bounce back. He has performed really well over the last four or five years. We expect Shaheen to perform everyday but bad patch does happen. He is determined to do well. We should give him some time.
Q: Why was Kamran Ghulam dropped?
WR: I think he has done well in domestic cricket but we still think that he needs more time to develop in T20 cricket. Kamran is part of our white ball plans and we have also invited him to the camp in Lahore before the series.
