After conducting a closed camp for about a week, ACB finally came out with a 18 men squad for the T20I series against UAE commencing today in Abu Dhabi. To be honest this bunch doesn’t look like a one for the future.
During selections, the views of captain & coach plays a very important role. Whoever the skipper & the think tank wants, selectors more or less are forced to oblige. Since the disastrous tour of last year’s World Cup, most of the boys were pretty busy playing for various global leagues like T10, BBL, LPL, BPL, ILT20, Nepal & SA20.
Karim & Azmat makes their way back on merit
In fact, apart from the regulars, results shown by few fringe players are quite enterprising. The likes of Karim Janat in BPL have proved that he can justify the role of a finisher quite consistently for the national team. The rise of Azmatullah have shown that as a fast bowler, he can extract unprecedented swing in the power play and can deliver few early breakthroughs. Besides, Ibrahim is regularly showing glimpses of a dependable top order bat who can anchor the innings deep. Usman & Darwish also played few crucial knocks in BPL with limited exposures.
Najib, Mujeeb & Hazrat struggling for form
But apart from couple of match winning cameos in ILT20, Najib have nothing to show as an experienced southpaw. Although Rashid, Farooqi, Gurbaz & Naveen have sparkled in few games, but they had their odd poor days as well. Mujeeb is also going through a lean drought patch where his mysteries are not at all coming off. He is bowling too fast these days & is not focusing on his slower variations. Hazrat on the other hand is awfully short of form. I don’t find any cogent reason for his selection other than the trust Rashid bestows upon his abilities. Nabi in the twilight of his international career has been rested in this series.
Four uncapped players were offered slots in the training camp but surprisingly none of them made the final cut. Rashid, through his recent interviews, has always reiterated in building a strong squad for the upcoming world cups. But as we look into the list, we do not find any new names. Even if the selectors wanted familiar faces, they had the option of going with Usman & Darwish who have fared well in BPL. Instead, the presence of Sharafuddin, Hazrat & Fareed, who do not have any takers in the global leagues, disappointed many.
Is Sharafuddin a better choice than Qais?
Qais is consistently sacrificed to accommodate Sharafuddin who is just enjoying free lunches on every tour without any meaningful contribution. If we look at forthcoming challenges, overall selections lack any distinct purpose, vision & courage. With Rashid at the helm of things again, we expected rationality of choices rather than the same old legacy of favouritism.
Afghanistan Squad: Rashid Khan, Ibrahim Zadran, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rahmat Shah, Hazratullah Zazai, Najibullah Zadran, Karim Janat, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, Zahir Khan, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Fareed Malik, Nijat Masood, Afsar Zazai