Shoiab Malik’s troublesome time continues as today the PCB dropped the experienced allrounder and ex-captain from the list of 30 probables for the 2011 World Cup to be held in Sri Lanka.
Malik has not represented Pakistan for over a year now but he has been under the microscope of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s integrity committee but it appears that he has failed to gain the clearance for his selection. Kamran Akmal who
also had been under the microscope has however made the cut.
Shoaib Malik and Kamran akmal alongwith Danish Kaneria has recently been out of favour of the Pakistan selectors but it was speculated that Malik will be coming back ino the squad for the world cup but as the probables were announced today
in Lahore, Malik still remains out of favour.
The out-of-favour trio has not participated in any format since the summer tour of England; Kaneria however was a part of the test squad to face South Africa but he was topped from raveling at the very last minute. Although Kaneria is
not a one-day international regular, he is still a big name casualty from the list.
The PCB has not announced it publically but the three players have been under suspicion after the spot fixing scandal that rocked the country in the june last year. Kamran Akmal was alse served a notice from the ACSU but has since asked
for a written clearance from the International Cricket council and has received it as well so he was clear for selection and the selectors have decided to give the talented wicket-keeper batsman another chance.
Kaneria was also at the centre of a spot fixing scandal, although a different one while playing for Essex but has since been cleared by the English Police and the ECB while Malik although not been linked to any fixing scandals has been
a regular feature in the speculation and gossip of conspiring against one time captain Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousuf.
Over the last few weeks the three players appeared several times before the PCB’s integrity committee and were required to submit a number of financial documents and statement with their last appearance coming on last Thursday. But there
still was some ambiguity over Malik and Akmal and the PCB was force to ask the ICC for their final approval before naming the list of probables.
The body for the control of cricket internationally had extended the deadline of the announcement of the list of probables from the 19th of December to the 5th of January and although both the players were given clearance
by the ICC, PCB still decided to keep Malik out of the squad for reasons best known to them.
Also missing out on selection was the tainted trio of Salman Butt, Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif but there is little surprise there as they were never in the running for selection into this squad.
Muhammad Yousuf has been named among the 30 probables and will be fighting for a place in the middle order while the exclusion of Fawad Alam, who averages nearly 38 in the limited over format of the game, is bound to raise some eyebrows.
Imran Farhat has also been dropped and included in his place is the the stylish left handed opener Nasir Jamshed.
The squad to take part in the one day series in New Zealand will be announced next week.
The list of probables for the 2011 World Cup is as follows:
Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Taufiq Umar, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Naveed Yasin, Kamran Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Salman Ahmed, Shahid Afridi,
Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Tanvir Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Asad Ali
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