Sunday, October 10, 2010
Misbah-ul-Haq named Test captain
Misbah-ul-Haq, the middle-order batsman, has been appointed captain of Pakistan's Test side a day after he was recalled to the squad. Misbah, who has been in and out of the Pakistan side was axed following the disastrous tour of Australia in 2009-10, is Pakistan's fourth Test captain this year. Shahid Afridi has been retained as the skipper of the ODI and T20 team.
Younis Khan however failed to get the nod of the selectors, something that was seen as a surprising decision by the cricketing fraternity in Pakistan.
Taufeeq Umar earned a surprise recall to the squad, after a gap of 4 years and will be looking to cement his place in the squad.
Zulqarnain Haider, who impressed on his debut in England, has been included at the cost of Kamran Akmal.
Test squad: Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah ul Haq (capt), Umar Akmal. Azhar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman, Zulqarnain Haider, Umar Gul, Tanvir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir (subject to fitness).
Pakistan ODI and T20 Squad: Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Tanveer Ahmed, Zulqarnain Haider.
Alam reappointed as team manager
Pakistan also re-appointed veteran former captain Intikhab Alam as team manager to replace Yawar Saeed who stepped down after the troubled tour of England marred by spot-fixing allegations.
The 68-year-old Alam was seen as the likely candidate to replace Saeed, who was blamed for not being able to handle the off-field problems on the tour of England which ended last month.
The controversy centered on Test captain Salman Butt, and bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, who were provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over newspaper reports claiming they were paid to bowl no-balls in the Lord's Test against England in August.
Scotland Yard raided the team hotel in London and interrogated the three players on two occasions, without leveling any charges. A fourth player, Wahab Riaz, was also questioned later.
The ICC also launched a separate inquiry after being tipped off by British tabloid newspaper The Sun that Pakistan's scoring pattern in the third one-day against England at The Oval on September 17, was pre-arranged with bookies.
The recent allegations and investigations have heaped greater demands on the post of manager, with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) hoping Alam's experience will help him handle the spotlight.
"Alam has been appointed team manager," Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told AFP, without giving any details.
The team will also play two Tests, the squad for which will be announced later.
Alam said he is looking forward to taking responsibility for the team.
"It's a tough job," Alam told AFP. "I will make sure that all goes well and I manage to keep the image of the team better and it goes up."
Alam has held the post of manager and coach on several occasions since retiring as player in 1976 and was the manager-coach when Pakistan won the 1992 World Cup in Australia.
He was again coach in 2000 before being sacked mid-way in the home series against Sri Lanka. He returned as coach in October 2008 for another stint as replacement for Pakistan's Australian coach Geoff Lawson.
That tenure also ended acrimoniously after he was replaced by Waqar Younis following Pakistan's winless tour of Australia earlier this year, a visit also marred by disciplinary problems.
Alam accused players of being involved in match-fixing during team's narrow defeat in the Sydney Test. He also reportedly called the players "retarded," a statement he later denied.
Alam, a leg-break bowler, played 47 Tests and four one-day internationals for Pakistan.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)

No comments:
Post a Comment