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Kamran Akmal bound for the Caribbean
Kamran Akmal has been recalled to the national team after three years while Ahmed Shehzad, who had been overlooked for a year, made a return to the T20I and ODI sides for Pakistan’s tour to the West Indies. Azhar Ali, who had been captain of the 50-over side as recently as January, has been dropped.
The selection committee, headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq, also called up five uncapped players while fast bowler Mohammad Amir has been rested for the T20 format.
Kamran, 35, last featured for Pakistan during the 2014 World T20 and has not been in contention for the national side since his central contract was cut the same year. He was, however, prolific on the domestic circuit in the 2014-15 season, scoring 900 first-class runs at 52.94 and 576 List A runs at 52.36. In the subsequent year, he made 480 first-class runs at 60 and 576 List A runs at 72. He was the top-scorer with 1035 runs at 79.61 in the recent first-class season and was the leading run-scorer in the second edition of Pakistan Super League with a tally of 353.
Shehzad, 25, has not been part of the Pakistan team since the 2016 World T20 due to disciplinary issues. He fought his way back into contention after hitting three hundreds in the departmental one-day cup, amassing 653 runs at an average of 93.28 earlier this year. He combined a number of low scores with a few impressive knocks in this year’s PSL and did enough to restore selectors’ faith in him. With Pakistan searching for openers after Sharjeel Khan‘s suspension for his involvement in alleged corruption in the PSL, Shehzad has been given another opportunity.
The selectors also rewarded left-handed batsman Fakhar Zaman and legspinner Shadab Khan with their first national call-ups. They were both highly impressive in the PSL and found a place in the squads for both limited-overs formats. Domestic veteran Asif Zakir, who has been playing first-class cricket for 14 years and has 123 matches under his belt, has been trusted to translate that experience to ODIs after being picked in the squad. He is yet to play international cricket. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar and allrounder Fahim Ashraf were the fourth and fifth uncapped cricketers in the 50-over squad.
For the T20Is, Pakistan have picked left-arm quicks for the T20s with Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Usman Khan, who had debuted in 2013, and Rumman Raees, who was part of the previous Pakistan squad that played West Indies in the UAE in 2016. Hasan Ali offers the option of variation.
Umar Farooq is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo