The former captain Ramiz Raja has announced pick of Pakistan team for the upcoming World Cup 2019.
The known cricketer turned commentator has preferred youth over experience. He has picked both Haris Suhail and Mohammad Rizwan at the expense of the experienced batsman Shoaib Malik.
Ramiz mentioned in the commentary that Pakistan cannot afford to have two players aged above 37 in the squad. He voted in favour of Mohammad Hafeez presumably because of his bowling skills and did not consider Malik for a world cup spot.
Malik’s performance in the ODIs has been under scrutiny for a while. Since 2018, his average in the ODIs is 29.21 and strike-rate 77.62. In England, he has scored only 300 runs in 23 innings at an average of 13.63.
The World Cup 1992 opening batsman has also picked Abid Ali in his team as a third-opener. Abid scored a century, 112 off 119 balls, on his ODI debut against Australia in Dubai last week. He has also been one of the best performers in the domestic cricket and known for his good technique against new ball – a vital aspect of opening the batting in England.
Junaid Khan, who did not concede a single boundary in the middle phase of the innings (overs 11-40) in Pakistan’s successful Champions Trophy campaign in 2017, finds a place in Ramiz’s squad.
Ramiz picked four frontline fast bowlers and preferred an extra batsman over the all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.
