Rashid Latif: “If I look at his recent stats, what justification would I give regarding his selection?”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Rashid Latif, the former captain, said he can’t justify fast bowler Hasan Ali’s selection in the Pakistan team even though he really likes him as a player.
Hasan used to be a key member of the pace attack, but after his wickets started drying up, he lost his place in the side.
In order to get back into the Pakistan squad, the 29-year-old faces stiff competition as the current pace line-up of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf are all performing brilliantly.
On top of this, the men in green have a plethora of talented youngsters like Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Ihsanullah, Zaman Khan and Mohammad Hasnain waiting in the wings.
Based on his recent performances for the national team, Latif conceded that he could not understand why Hasan was selected for the two-Test series against Sri Lanka. Hasan didn’t feature in any of the matches as Pakistan secured a 2-0 series win.
“If I look at his recent stats, what justification would I give regarding his selection?” he said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Hasan wasn’t picked for the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which the men in green won 3-0.
He also wasn’t in the squad for the Asia Cup, where Pakistan beat Nepal by 238 runs, shared one point apiece with India after their match was rained off, and defeated Bangladesh by seven wickets.
Things went downhill for them from this point as they lost to India by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had an opportunity to make it to the Asia Cup final when they took on Sri Lanka on September 14 in Colombo, but they succumbed to a two-wicket defeat via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir