Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has chose to keep Azhar Ali as captain of the national team’s ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series against the West Indies in UAE, Express News reported on Monday.
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Test opener Sami Aslam and veteran paceman Umar Gul have also failed to make it to the preliminary list, following their poor performance against England in the ODI series while Umar Akmal and young left-arm pacer Rumman Raees have been included in the list. Although there had been reports of the 31-year old being asked to step down by the board earlier, he has managed to retain his position.
Azhar has been widely criticised for his captaincy since taking over from Misbah-ul-Haq, who retired from the 50-over format following the World Cup previous year but has since taken the Test side to the No. 1 position in the International Cricket Council rankings. The team has dropped to ninth in the ICC ODI rankings as a result.
Sarfraz Ahmed, who had been tipped to replace Azhar as one-day skipper, will lead the side in the three-match Twenty20 series starting in Dubai from Friday. Therefore, the next three years are crucial for Pakistan considering the number of games in the environs most of our players are not acquainted with.
Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s executive committee Najam Sethi on Saturday said that the board will give fittingsendoffs to former captain Shahid Afridi and off-spinner Saeed Ajmal.
Afridi had recently said he wanted to retire on a high note but had never requested PCB to give him a farewell series before retiring from the game. “Every player wants to go out on a high and a I am no different”, he said.
Ajmal has lost his place in the team after failing to deliver wickets with a remodelled action following a chucking suspension in 2014.
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“PCB has given a free hand to the selection committee in its affairs regarding selection of any specific player including Salman Butt”, he said.
