Inzamam-ul-Haq: “Mohammad Hafeez [asked] them to include a new player instead of him. However, they picked Iftikhar Ahmed but I think young players must be included”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has questioned why all-rounder Iftikhar Ahmed was picked as Mohammad Hafeez’s replacement for the T20 series against Bangladesh.
Hafeez pulled out of the Bangladesh tour and called for a new player to be given a chance to feature in the series.
However, the national selectors chose Iftikhar on the basis of his outstanding performance in the National T20 Cup, where he finished as the second-highest run-scorer with 409 runs in 12 matches for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which included three fifties, at an average of 102.25 and a strike-rate of 170.41.
He also took eight wickets at an average of 13.25 and an economy rate of 5.57.
Iftikhar only played one game in the three-match T20 series against Bangladesh and scored six runs, while also going wicketless.
“PCB and selection panel might be thinking of including new cricketers in T20 cricket. Mohammad Hafeez [asked] them to include a new player instead of him. However, they picked Iftikhar Ahmed but I think young players must be included,” Inzamam said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan are now playing a two-Test series against Bangladesh.
Pakistan squad for Bangladesh Test series: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi, Zahid Mahmood
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