Inzamam-ul-Haq picked Sharjeel Khan and Kamran Akmal in his all-time Pakistan World Cup squad

Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo

Pakistan chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq included banned opening batsman Sharjeel Khan and out-of-favour wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal in his all-time Pakistan World Cup squad.

Sharjeel was banned for five years for his involvement in a corruption scandal during the 2017 Pakistan Super League (PSL).

As for Akmal, he last represented Pakistan in April 2017.

Akmal was the second-highest scorer in this year’s Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he accumulated 357 runs in 13 games for the Peshawar Zalmi, which included three half-centuries, at an average of 27.46.

“I would pick Sharjeel along with openers Saeed Anwar and Majid Khan. Sharjeel is an outstanding talents and it’s a shame that his career has been cut-short,” Inazamam was quoted as saying by cricketpakistan.com.pk.

“If you look at the performance in ODIs, I can also include my name in the squad. But I would select Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Mohammad Yousuf as my middle-order batsmen.

“Imran Khan is an obvious choice as the captain. He will form a potent pace attack with Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar.

“Abdul Qadir is a big name who has served Pakistan cricket a lot. However, when it comes to ODI cricket, I would go with Saqlain Mushtaq and Shahid Afridi as my spinners.

“Although Pakistan have had some great wicketkeepers in the past like Wasim Bari, Rashid Latif and Moin Khan, if you look at wicketkeepers in the modern era, Kamran Akmal would be the perfect choice. Apart from being a wicketkeeper, Kamran is an excellent batsman who can bat at any position.”

Pakistan will play two World Cup warm-up games against Afghanistan and Bangladesh in Bristol and Cardiff on May 24 and 26 respectively.

They will then begin their World Cup campaign against the West Indies in Nottingham on May 31.

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