Pakistan’s former skipper, Rashid Latif,
has criticised the decision of ignoring the middle-order batsman, Asad
Shafiq, during the ongoing tour of Zimbabwe.
“This is pure injustice to drop Asad Shafiq, who had been performing consistently for last one year,” he said.
The former wicketkeeper also questioned the way Pakistan’s tour management has preferred Shoaib Malik over the young Shafiq.
“What are criteria of selecting Shoaib Malik in place of Asad.This is injustice with a quick emerging player,”
At the moment, the Men in Green are in Zimbabwe
to play a 3-match ODI series, and a 2-fixture Twenty20 series with the
host winning the only Test match by 7 wickets at Queens Sports Club,
Bulawayo.
Pakistan’s tour management, which includes, the captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, the head coach, Waqar Younis, and the team’s manager, Naveed Akram Cheema, has not been considering to pick the Karachi-born talented batsman Shafiq.
He was dropped from the team for the only
Test against the Zimbabwean side; however, it was expected that the
25-year-old would be included in the final XI during the One Day
International series.
Surprisingly the tour management did not pick him in the final XI during the 1st ODI of the series, and gave chance to the former captain, Malik, who is making a comeback.
Coming back to Latif’s sympathies for
Shafiq, he said that the emerging batsman should be the first choice,
considering his talent and potential.
The right-handed batman, Shafiq, who was
also member of Pakistan’s squad during the recently concluded World Cup,
has played 21 One Day Internationals fixtures for Pakistan, earning 579 runs with an average of 32.16.
He has also served his country in 5 Test matches and 3 Twenty20s, collecting 216 and 39 runs respectively.
Meanwhile, the former captain of Pakistan,
Latif, also thinks that the 29-year-old Shoaib Malik should focus on
recovering his form.
“Every player making a comeback needed some time before given an opportunity,” He added.
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