Striker Shakeel Abbasi to lead Green-shirts in the Australian Tour
Keeping in view Muhammad Imran’s ailing condition, the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) replaced the former captain with forward, Shakeel Abbasi, for the upcoming Australian tournament.
Despite the captain suffering from malaria and far from being fit at this stage, the federation put his name in the 19-member squad, announced on Monday, to contest the back to back tournaments in Australia.
In order to accommodate Mohammad Imran, the federation expanded the national squad up to 19 players with Mohammad Irfan Junior playing as the substitute for the veteran defender.
Hanif Khan, Chief Selector of the green-shirts, while briefing the media said that Abbasi replaced Mohammad Imran owing to his ailing condition but only for the Australia-tour.
He underscored, “He (Imran) has been suffering from malaria for the last ten days which is why his fitness level is pretty low. Imran is one of our key players and we don’t want to take any risks ahead of next year’s Olympics which is why the captaincy responsibilities
have been transferred to Abbasi but just for the tour of Australia”.
The decision of the selection committee was surprising as it opted not to give complete rest to Imran, even though the Australia tour is less significant as compared to the upcoming mega events including the Champions Trophy and the London Olympics.
The green-shirts are scheduled to play a four-nation tournament and nine-a-side International Super Series from October 20 to November 04, in Perth.
Pakistan is featured with India, New Zealand and the host, Australia, in the quadrangular event.
The Chief Selector, while justifying the committee’s choice, said that it had taken the decision in order to avoid unnecessary criticism and to not let the skipper feel demoralized.
Abbasi, the new captain, was not only removed from the post but also dropped from the team in the past due to numerous controversies.
In the meantime, world’s highest goal scorer, Sohail Abbas, once again succeeded to get a spot in the 19-member squad.
He was overlooked in the recently concluded Asian Champions Trophy where Pakistan lost to India in the finals on penalty shootouts.
Hanif Khan maintained that Abbas was still the best and was completely fit which is why he was called back in the national line-up.
Forward Muhammad Zubair was also picked up in the team whereas Kashif Javed and custodian, Imran Butt, were not selected for the trip.
The Pakistan’s team is comprised of Shakeel Abbasi, Mohammad Imran, Sohail Abbas, Imran Shah, Mohammad Irfan, Kashif Shah, Mohammad Rizwan Junior, Mohammad Tousiq, Waseem Ahmed, Rashid Mehmood, Fareed Ahmed, Abdul Haseem Khan, Shafqat Rasool, Mohammad Waqas,
Mohammad Rizwan Senior, Muhammad Irfan Junior, Ali Shan, Mohammad Zubair and Umar Bhutta.
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