PCB’s disconnect with ‘Cause and Effect’: A Timeline
The arrival of WT20 has added a fresh chapter to the long and thriving list of comic tragedies that PCB has been involved in. Here’s a timeline review of the selection goof-ups that have transpired in the last 30 days.
10 February 2016 – To meet ICC deadlines, PCB announced its squad for the Asia Cup and the World T20 a week into the PSL. Keeping in mind that the World Cup was right after the Asia Cup, it made sense to select the same squad for both tournaments to be able to test the whole squad, and assess their strengths to arrive at a perfect playing XI. Sadly, that’s where the sense ended.
The squad PCB selected was this: Afridi (captain), Hafeez, Malik, U Akmal, Sarfaraz, Babar Azam, Iftikhar, Imad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Irfan, Wahab, Amir, Nawaz, K Manzoor, and Rumman Raees.
Frustrated with Ahmed Shehzad, the Selection Committee decided to drop him. The problem? Finding a half-decent opener who could take his place. Various names were being thrown up for discussion. There was Sharjeel Khan, a good prospect but someone who hadn’t done much to impress on the international stage.
There were talks of bringing back Kamran Akmal (thank god we didn’t go down that road again). Nauman Anwar was another prospect (in my opinion the best option) who had performed really well in the last domestic T20 tournament but hadn’t got the big break.
Yet PCB selected Khurram Manzoor, who was yet to debut for Pakistan in this format and hadn’t played a T20 in 2 years. He was selected based on List A performances against England Lions.
Another star performer out of the last domestic T20 was Iftikhar Ahmed. Yet he wasn’t tried in any of the T20s Pakistan played in the following months, was debuted instead in ODIs against England and then dropped. Failing in the PSL, he also found a spot in Pakistan’s squad.
Hafeez in the last 3 years has been a T20 pedestrian with hardly any performance of note. Since July 2013, in 32 matches, Hafeez has averaged 18.3 with the bat striking at 107.9. Without his bowling, there is no case for Hafeez being in the team and yet he too found a place in Pakistan’s squad – PCB once again reiterating that seniority rules.
Keeping in mind that the World T20 is being held in India, you’d think a specialist spinner might help. We selected 3 spinning all-rounders (Afridi, Imad and Nawaz) but no specialist spinner. This selection was not for a lack of choice. There were many that caught the eye in PSL – Zulfiqar Babar, Mohammad Asghar and Usama Mir come to mind. Moreover, Pakistan did not give Imad Wasim a single game in the Asia Cup, and Nawaz played only two. However, let’s reflect on the fact that Pakistan is taking a battery of 5 pacers to spin-friendly India.
And to think these are only the issues that came up in the original squad selection. The real comedy started after the initial squad was announced.
21 February 2016 - As PSL carried on, Sharjeel hit a 100 in a virtual semi-final & Sami delivered some sensational spells to get the selectors thinking. Khalid Latif also impressed with the bat, while Iftikhar failed & Rumman Raees failed to give a great show with the ball.
22 February 2016 - Two injuries followed to Babar Azam (a promising young batsman) and Rumman Raees.
23 February 2016 – Babar and Rumman were replaced by Sharjeel and Sami; it seemed the selectors couldn’t wait to make replacements and gave them no time to recover. There were rumours that the injuries were minor and could easily have healed in time. To make matters more complicated, Iftikhar was dropped for the World Cup without being given a chance, and replaced by Khalid Latif.
The bigger comedy? Iftikhar was still part of the Asia Cup, which meant whatever Iftikhar did in the Asia Cup wouldn’t have mattered to WT20 selection and Khalid Latif would go into the WT20 completely untested. The only way Afridi managed to avoid this potential selection disaster from fully materializing was by not playing Iftikhar in any Asia Cup game at all, except the last game against Srilanka where he didn’t get to bat.
2 March 2016 - While Pakistan was playing against Bangladesh, news emerged that Ahmed Shehzad had been asked to submit his passport to PCB for processing. Everyone knew this was a replacement call for Khurram Manzoor. Imagine the humiliation of players getting to know they might be dropped mid-match.
4 March 2016 - As expected, the Asia Cup exposed many of the issues that were staring Pakistan in the face yet somehow oblivious to PCB. Khurram Manzoor’s selection was a disastrous failure. Hafeez’s form in T20s worsened. Sharjeel showed the problems he had in his earlier selections still persist, and how short-sighted it was to select someone based on a single innings.
Sami yet again cost Pakistan an important game and the tournament itself, as Pakistan crashed out of the Asia Cup following Sami’s shambolic 15 runs over defending 18 off 12.