Wahab Riaz: “He told me I want Imad Wasim in the team. I asked him how will he handle the team culture when a player that has already retired is coming back and I said then Amir should come back too. Shaheen agreed and said I want Amir to play for Pakistan as well”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan left-arm speedster Wahab Riaz has revealed Shaheen Shah Afridi wanted pace bowler Mohammad Amir and left-arm spinner Imad Wasim back in the team for the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Wahab admitted that he initially had concerns about whether bringing the duo back would upset the team dynamic as they would be selected without having played much domestic cricket.
However, Amir and Imad eventually ended up coming out of retirement to play for Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Amir took seven wickets in four matches at an average of 10.28, while Imad claimed three wickets in three games at an average of 14.66.
Both players didn’t play for Pakistan after the T20 World Cup and have since retired from international cricket again.
“Shaheen met me after playing in the ILT20, and he told me I want Imad Wasim in the team. I asked him how will he handle the team culture when a player that has already retired is coming back and I said then Amir should come back too. Shaheen agreed and said I want Amir to play for Pakistan as well. After that, Mohsin Naqvi came as chairman, he agreed to this and Imad had performed in the PSL by that time so he was added. I did not negotiate with Imad and Amir. A director negotiated,” Wahab was quoted as saying by PakPassion on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Pakistan team recently toured South Africa and lost the T20I series 2-0 before rebounding to whitewash the Proteas 3-0 in the ODIs.
In the two-Test series that followed, the men in green were crushed 2-0.
Pakistan then took on the West Indies in a two-Test series in Multan, which ended as a 1-1 draw.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Kashif Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha