Usama Mir: “I was very surprised that the mystery spinner [Abrar Ahmed] wasn’t included, even though he had performed well and is a good bowler. He should have been given a chance; they should have tested him out”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan leg-spinner Usama Mir has admitted he was shocked mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed did not play a single game during the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Abrar had been included in Pakistan’s squad, but watched on from the sidelines as the men in green lost to the United States of America and India before bouncing back to beat Canada and Ireland.
However, those two wins went in vain as Pakistan were knocked out in the group stage of the tournament.
Considering how well Abrar had been performing in the lead-up to the T20 World Cup, Mir felt that the men in green should have given the 25-year-old an opportunity as he “might have covered the area we were lacking”.
“I was very surprised that the mystery spinner [Abrar Ahmed] wasn’t included, even though he had performed well and is a good bowler. He should have been given a chance; they should have tested him out. Who knows, he might have covered the area we were lacking in the middle. I had high hopes for him and was very confident that he would play well,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Abrar is now involved in Pakistan’s two-match Test series against Bangladesh, which began on August 21 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi