Kamran, Malik and Kaneria axed again by PCB
Pakistan Cricket Board has announced two separate squads for the tour of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754. The two squads have been announced for the three match T20 series and two test matches that precede six match ODI series.
The team for the ODIs would be announced after the completion of the first two legs of the two month long tour.
The major surprise in the selection was the omission of the in-form trio of Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danish-Kaneria-c1314.
The three have been performing brilliantly in the on going Quaid-e-Azam trophy tournament which is the premier first class tournament in the country.
The sad part is that their omission in on non-cricketing grounds as they have not been cleared by the governing body of the game in the country, while sources with-in the PCB claim that the omission is due to the ICC policies of excluding
any player who is under the cloud of spot or match fixing.
The duo of Kamran and Malik were not "given clearance" for selection by the board's integrity committee.
The PCB has maintained its silence on the matter and did not give any further details as to why that decision was taken. "We discussed a vast pool of players but these two were not given clearance by the board," chief selector http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mohsin-c77587
Khan.
A real concern for the players would be the news that the players are not likely to return any time soon, even for the World Cup which is set to take place in the Indian sub-continent next February.
Furthermore there is a distinct possibility that they might never adorn the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 kit in an international match again, since the ICC in particular has made it clear to the PCB that they do not want to see and dubious player play
international cricket!
In the bleak scenario Mohsin Khan ha started planning for the premier tournament knowing well that he would have a limited pool of players available for the event.
The Pakistani team is set to be hampered big time in coming months as besides Kamran, Shoaib and Kaneria the trio of Mohammad Aamer, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif are set to be banned for some length of time for their alleged involvement
in spot fixing scandal that broke during the fourth and final test match on the tour of England last August.
Mohsin stressed that in the present circumstances the best possible Pakistani team has been selected and the players who have been given the nod need to do their best in both formats of the game.
We are trying to get the best preparation for the World Cup," Mohsin said. "Though New Zealand will always be tough opposition, we must keep the World Cup in mind throughout." They begin the tour with a warm-up game against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Auckland-c766
on December 23.
Interestingly Misbah Ul Haq who was the top scorer in a limp batting performance in the two match T20 series against the South Africans faces the axe in the instant format.
Young opener Ahmed Shehzad who excelled in the domestic T20 competition as well as the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hong-Kong-c2919 sixes, finds himself included in the team for the three match series.
Twenty20 squad: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Khan-c71319, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Adnan Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir,
Wahab Riaz (subject to fitness).
Test squad: http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972 (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz.
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