Pakistan was the last amongst eight teams to announce its Champions trophy squad and when it was announced it had a few major surprises, leaving former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif to term it "a political selection."
All-rounder Faheem Ashraf staged a comeback after two years on the sidelines. He was surprisingly included at the last minute with his picture meeting former prime minister Nawaz Sharif - although it is an old picture - highlighted as the route to his comeback.
It seems a political selection. Faheem has no recent performance to warrant a selection and nor is his record impressive.
Once a prime candidate for white-ball team, Ashraf's performance went down and his ODI record shows it. In 34 ODIs he has 26 wickets at an average of 46.30 and in 24 innings he batted his average is 10.66 with a highest of 28. Sources had told Telecomasia.net Aamer Jamal was favourite to get the nod but was dropped at the last minute in favour of Ashraf.
Amongst the other surprises is the return of spinning allrounder Khushdil Shah and wicketkeeper batter Usman Khan, who has yet to play a one-day international.
Latif said Pakistan tried several new players on their successful tours of Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa but were not retained.
The squad has several players like Ashraf, Fakhar and Saud Shakeel who were not part of the system on the last three tours and it's now up to the captain Mohammad Rizwan to select the best 11 which Imran Khan did in 1992 triumph and Younis Khan in 2009.
I think Babar will be useful as opener but the main issue is who will take wickets in the overs 11-20 and then 31-40 which has been Pakistan's weakness in recent ODIs, like we suffered badly in the 2023 World Cup in that area.
Former fast bowler Tanveer Ahmed, who played five Tests, two ODIs and a single T20I for Pakistan, termed the squad as a "joke."
We have selected a squad which is a "joke" in our conditions. Look at India, they have four quality spinners in Ravindra Jadeja, Washinton Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel and we have what, just one spinner in Abrar Ahmed. This is a squad which is selected on perchi (recommendations) and for this the selection committee will be responsible. There was no need to change the squad that did so well on the last three tours.
Pakistan achieved their first ODI series win in Australia for 22 years when they won 2-1. They also won 2-1 in Zimbabwe and a historic 3-0 win in South Africa.
You have dropped Sufiyan Moqeem who did well,.You do not have a genuine opener Imam-ul-Haq and it's another joke that you will decide who will open on match days.
Selector Asad Shafiq was quoted in Pakistan Cricket Board release that Fakhar's partner will be decided by the selector
Fakhar’s opening partner could be either Babar Azam or Saud Shakeel, depending on various factors such as conditions, opposition and match strategy. Both players are highly capable at the top of the order, with Babar being particularly seasoned in the role, regularly opening in T20Is and did it in the last Test in South Africa.
Pakistan face New Zealand in the opening match of the Champions Trophy in Karachi on February 19 before taking on India in Dubai four days later. Their last match is against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi on February 27.
