Rashid Latif 'perplexed' by Fawad Alam's snub from Pakistan squad

Rashid Latif

Former Pakistan skipper Rashid Latif has expressed his frustration over the continuous omission of left-handed batsman Fawad Alam, who has once again been axed from the national squad for the Tests against Ireland and England next month.

Fawad Alam, who averages impressive 55.35 in first-class cricket, has been ignored from the 16-man Pakistan Test squad which was announced by chief selector and former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq for a lone match against Ireland and two-match series against England.

Expressing his resentment over the same, Latif quizzed as to why Fawad has been ignored especially when Pakistan are in need of experienced players to beef up their batting.

'How come Fawad has not been selected when Pakistan are in dire need of experienced guys to beef up the batting," the Dawn quoted Latif, as saying. Latif even queried the logic behind selecting Fawad in the pre-tour camp when he was not even in radar for the upcoming three Test matches.

"I'm perplexed by some of the selections made by Inzamam and company. Just imagine Fawad last played a Test in 2009 when he was 23-year-old. I feel very sorry for him [Fawad] because before Inzamam took as chief selector, the previous heads [of the national selection committee] Mohsin Khan, Mohammad Ilyas and Haroon Rashid all ignored his rightful claims to play for Pakistan at the highest level,' Latif said.

While pointing out the brilliant track record of Fawad in first-class cricket, Latif said that the Inzamam-led national committee has done a financial murder of him given the amount of money paid to Test cricketers nowadays.

"It's like handing a sentence to someone who has committed a heinous crime. Inzamam's committee has done a financial murder to Fawad given how much Test players are paid these days. His track record speaks for itself with those 27 centuries and 10,742 first-class runs," he said.

Meanwhile, Inzamam had named five uncapped players, including his nephew Imam-ul-Haq among five others. Besides Imam, opener Fakhar Zaman, batsmen Usman Salahuddin and Saad Ali, and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf are the other four uncapped members to have received maiden Test call-ups.

Latif, who is considered among the best wicket-keepers of his era, also quizzed the selection of limited-overs specialist Fakhar Zaman, saying that the inclusion of another opener--with already three openers available in the squad-- is a bad decision on the part of the selection committee.

'When Azhar Ali and Sami Aslam are two openers with Imam-ul-Haq as the third, what is the point of having Fakhar as the back-up [opener] when only three are sufficient.The inclusion of fourth opener is a bad formation from the selection committee," the former Pakistan captain said. Ireland are slated to play their inaugural lone Test against Pakistan from May 11 before the latter side head into England for two-match series, beginning May 24.

The full Pakistan Test squad is as follows:
Pakistan squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Sami Aslam, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Saad Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Faheem Ashraf.

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