Ramiz Raja: “Pakistan has announced their squad for the England tour which is a mixed bag of selection. I would give Misbah 5 out of 10 for this selection”
Image courtesy of: Ary Sports
Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja gave head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq a “5 out of 10” for the squad selected for the tour of England.
A total of 29 players were selected for the series, including former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, uncapped batsman Haider Ali and the veteran trio of Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez, who all didn’t receive central contracts for the 2020-2021 season.
Ramiz noted that “there are many old faces” in the team, which he believes suggests that Misbah is not ready to give more youngsters a chance to prove their worth, especially in T20 cricket.
“Pakistan has announced their squad for the England tour which is a mixed bag of selection. I would give Misbah 5 out of 10 for this selection. Selecting the likes of Haider Ali and Khushdil Shah was a good move but the mindset is wrong that has impacted selection as well,” Ramiz said in a YouTube video as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“There are many old faces and Misbah does not seem to be ready to move on in T20 cricket without them. This shows his mindset which is now, unfortunately, being transferred to the young captain. He has been told that you cannot win the T20 World Cup without Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez.
“Shoaib Malik, in the last 10 years, has played 25 matches in ICC events without scoring a fifty. Mohammad Hafeez was a good all-round cricketer but his form is not the same in the international arena. If you want proof, you should go see his performance against New Zealand in the World Cup. Both are now weak fielders. But somehow, Misbah is convinced that experience can win you the T20 World Cup.
“If those experienced players were world-class it would be a different story, however, experience in T20 cricket has been overtaken by many different factors such as attitude, fielding, energy, reflexes, and if your reflexes are slow you cannot hit the big ones. How can someone win matches in this way?”
Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests and three T20 Internationals against England.
Recent reports said that the tour is all set to go ahead, but the start date of the Test series will be pushed back from July 30 to August 5.
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