- The Pakistan veteran made a huge claim as he lashed out at the PCB over team selection for the upcoming Asia Cup.
The Pakistan cricket team saw a number of key changes in their squad for the Asia Cup, with Hasan Ali being dropped to much furore among fans and former cricketers. Additionally, Shoaib Malik has also not been included in the squad, leading many to believe that it might be the end of the road for the veteran Pakistan star. There have also been discussions over a lack of firepower in the Pakistan middle-order, and the country’s star former bowler Tauseef Ahmed says that the PCB has failed to ‘settle’ on a team.
“Ye rona dhona toh bohot puraana hai (this has been going on for long now). You didn’t try to settle the team. The same players that were there a few years ago are coming back in some way or the other. When something this crucial coming up, you go back to those players about whom you once said that they should leave cricket. It means you didn’t have a back-up plan,” said Ahmed on Sports Paktv, who has represented Pakistan in 34 Tests and 70 ODIs between 1980 to 1993.
“Unless you’re not settled, there’s no point. There was Saud Shakeel, there were 2-3 other players, where are they now?” He further claimed that Pakistan, at this moment, only care about their games against India rather than the Asia Cup as a whole.
“We want our team to be good. We were thinking they will pick Shoaib Malik. Because you only remember these people at this time. But we don’t really care about the Asia Cup, we only care about those 2-3 games against India. It’s like.. ‘if we win these, that’s it’. That’s not the way. You need planning,” Ahmed said.
The Asia Cup begins on August 27 and Pakistan open their campaign against arch-rivals India a day later. The two sides can potentially clash twice, or even thrice (given they reach final) in the continental tournament, which takes place in the United Arab Emirates.
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