Pakistan T20 squad: Usama Mir dropped, Haris Rauf returns for Ireland and England series. cricket news

Pakistani selectors on Thursday dropped leg spinner Usama Mir for the T20 series in Ireland and England, while recalling fast bowler Haris Rauf. Selectors Muhammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Wahab Riaz said in a media conference that Pakistan’s World Cup team will be selected on the basis of performance in the matches against Ireland and England. A three-match series in Ireland begins on May 10, before Pakistan travels to England for four matches from May 22.

“There are some fitness issues with Muhammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf, Azam Khan and Irfan Khan Niazi, but their fitness has improved significantly and we are confident that they will play in the upcoming matches,” Wahab said.

Wahab also justified the recall of fast bowler Hasan Ali for the upcoming tour and said that he was already under consideration and is basically a backup to Haris.

“If Haris is fit and performs well in the coming matches then he is our first choice. He has started bowling but if he does not come then we have Hasan Ali. Haris became unfit during the early stages of the Pakistan Super League and has not played since February.

Razzaq said that leg spinner Usama has been left out because Shadab Khan and Abrar Ahmed are already present in the Pakistan team.

Yousuf insisted that the 2-2 result in the recent T20 series against a weak New Zealand team was not bad.

“It is true that New Zealand were missing some key players but this is also the first time that we have fully implemented the rotation policy by trying out new players in the series,” he said.

Yousuf also said that he was pushing players to be more innovative in playing their shots and admitted that some players had fallen short on that front.

“Look, unless we are prepared to accept failure and move on, our batsmen will never be prepared to play innovative strokes,” he said.

Wahab also said that he has spoken to new head coach Gary Kirsten and they all agreed that first of all he has to remove insecurity and fear of failure from the minds of the players.

“Our aim is to provide them an environment where they can perform at their best and play fearlessly.” Wahab also said that selecting the playing eleven will remain the captain’s domain and the selectors will not interfere in that area.

The selectors also defended Babar Azam’s ability as a captain.

“No one is a born captain but from what we saw in the New Zealand series his leadership has improved and we are hopeful that he will improve and he has the captaincy experience. We want to be on the same page with them,” Razzaq said.

S1uads: Babar Azam (captain), Muhammad Rizwan, Azam Khan, Saeem Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Irfan Khan Niazi, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Muhammad Aamir, Imad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Abbas Afridi and Agha Ali Salman. PTI BS BS

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