Selecting seniors backfired, says Pakistan chief selector Rashid Latif

Pakistan cricket team

Rashid Latif, the newly appointed Pakistan cricket chief selector, admitted that the idea of selecting senior cricketers for the 2014 ICC World T20 was the reason behind the team’s miserable performance in the tournament.

NDTV quoted Latif: “Just like Australia failed in their plans of selecting senior players, Pakistan also fumbled because of selecting senior players.”

The former Pakistan wicket-keeper refused to name any but hinted that the selection of Kamran Akmal and Shoaib Malik was of no use. Both the cricketers are more than 30 years old and did not justify their inclusion. Kamran Akmal scored 48 runs in 4 matches and was not impressive behind the stumps, either, whereas Malik scored 52 runs in his 4 matches and did not bowl a single over.

He further added: “West Indies were outstanding in their batting and Pakistan were shocking. They won the match because of outstanding batting and we lost it because of our batsmen.”

Former Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad termed the defeat insipid.

“Fans and former players can accept defeat but if you lose without putting up a good fight, like Pakistan did last night, it’s unacceptable,” said Miandad.

“This is a fact that Pakistan do not have quality players in batting but the team was not as bad as it looked against the West Indies,” said Miandad. “The way they were stumped off spinners was shameful.”

Another ex-cricketer Mohammad Yousuf opined: “Not a single batsman in the team has proper technique to deal with the spinners and hitting fours and sixes is not the only way to bat.”

Pakistan coach Moin Khan called for an improvement before their series against Australia at UAE in October.

He said: “We have a big five month gap in our next series so we need to improve on our batting in training camps.”

West Indies on Tuesday demolished the Pakistanis by a whopping 84-run margin to qualify for the T20 World Cup semis.