HomiD

Misbah axed from all three formats
Cricinfo staff
October 22, 2009

Misbah-ul-Haq's international revival seems to have come to an end, after he was left out from the squads in all three formats for Pakistan's upcoming series of ODIs, T20Is and Tests against New Zealand in the Middle East and New Zealand. Pakistan's selection committee have seemingly covered as many bases as possible in the three formats, recalling several forgotten names and forming an usually large 18-man Test squad.

Misbah's form has been poor in all three formats over the last year, in contrast to 2007, when he reignited his dormant international career in sensational fashion at the World Twenty20 in South Africa and then on a tour to India. The emergence of Umar Akmal as a middle order prospect has, for now at least, brought Misbah's second innings to a close.

The other major theme to the squads is the return of opener Imran Farhat, who ends a two-year exile after his stint in the Indian Cricket League by being picked in all three squads. Pakistan's last few squads have lacked specialist openers; at the Champions Trophy, only Imran Nazir was a specialist in the position.

Alongside Farhat returns another left-handed opener, Salman Butt; he was dropped after a poor series in Sri Lanka this summer but is back in both the Test and ODI squads. Nazir is retained in the Twenty20 squad. Khalid Latif, in imperious domestic form, has also been recalled to Pakistan's ODI and Twenty20 squads, offering another opening option.

There will be disappointment at the non-selection of fresh faces performing well in domestic cricket, particularly batsmen, but the selectors have recalled left-arm pacemen Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz. The pair make up for the absence of Mohammad Asif from the first limited-overs leg of the tour; because of his deportation last year from Dubai, Asif is unable to travel back and so has been picked only for the Test squad.

Seven players - the Akmal brothers, Saeed Ajmal, Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul and Mohammad Aamer - find a place in all three squads. Younis Khan, after resigning and coming back in the last week as captain, will lead the Test and ODI side, and Shahid Afridi remains the Twenty20 captain.

After a lull in international assignments over the last two years, Pakistan suddenly find themselves embarking on a schedule that will keep them in action until February next year. They first play three one-dayers in Abu Dhabi starting November 3, followed by two Twenty20s in Dubai before heading off to New Zealand for a three-Test series. Following that, they move to Australia where they have another three-Test series and a series of five ODIs as well as a T20I. The large squads, in part, reflects the heavy schedule.

Squads
Tests: Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan (capt), Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (wk), Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Abdur Rauf, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmad


One-dayers: Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Younis Khan (capt), Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Wahab Riaz

Twenty20: Khalid Latif, Imran Nazir, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi (capt), Kamran Akmal (wk), Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamer, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir

HomiD

Faisal Iqbal for Misbah is an unusually stupid selection in Test pitches in NZ & Australia. I guess Asim Kamal will never ever make it back.

Imran Farhat is another 'sifarishi', since his father-in-law Mohammad Ilyas is now part of the PCB Selection Committee. Imran Nazir & Fawad Alam are not in the ODI team but Imran Farhat is? What the heck is that... It's good to see Abdul Razzaq back in ODI. Khalid Latif in test squad would have been much better than Imran Farhat. He is doomed for failure in overseas/Australians conditions.

Yasir Arafat in test squad will never get to play. Iftiqar Anjum warming the benches and carrying drinks again and free ride away. Good to see Sarafaraz Ahmed in test squad. Maybe he can be groomed this way.

ehsan

Razzaq shoud have been in all three formats.

Faisal Iqbal and Salman Butt

We still have Rana to provide free runs to opposition batsmen. Being captains friend pays off.

Lucid Chaotic

Salman Butt is a specialist opener? the PCB is kidding right?!
Faisal Iqbal and/or Farhat in place of Misbah... again an extremely stupid decision. I agree that Misbah has been out of form lately, but he is probably the only technically correct batsman along with MoYo, and I think Pakistan will miss him in Australia.

Decent 6Chora

Aren't Imran and Salam tested and proven failed openers? Does this tell that a country of 170 Million does not have any 3rd and 4th opener?

Bhanja, I'll take him given that he never really got long run as far as I remember.

HomiD

How many times the selectors have played merry-go-round with the openers...

Salman Butt
Imran Nazir
Imran Farhat, father-in-law Mohammad Ilyas now a selection committee member.
Mohammad Hafeez
Yasir Hameed

Non-Openers
Faisal Iqbal, aka Mamoo Javed Miandad ki Sifarish.

These guys have all been tried and tested and failed on numerous occasions. Time to look beyond them but I guess they all know important people in the PCB or the Govt.

cadet018

a1kashur

No Asif in ODI or T20s?

fkhan2

can't travel to UAE because of his charas stunt.

samb

Imran Farhat's comeback is mindboggling. he was just a little bit less retarded than Afridi back in the day. and not much has changed...

but good to see Afridi and Razzaq didn't find places in the test squad - the former for lack of a brain and the latter for his lack of penetration as a test bowler...

fkhan2

couldn't be mindboggling when his father in law is in the national selection committee. But yes you call it a shameful state when seven players - the Akmal brothers, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul and Mohammad Aamer - find a place in all three squads.


National Selection Committee: Iqbal Qasim (chairman), Saleem Jaffer , Ijaz Ahmed, Mohammad Ilyas, Azhar Khan (members), Asif Baloch, Farrukh Zaman (co-opted members).

JAWAD ZUBAIRI

this is really sick,

these in-laws are the real outlaws of the nation.