Former Pakistan Captain Says Squad Was Announced Only to Please Social Media - Android

Former Pakistan captain turned cricket analyst, Rashid Latif, has termed the recent team selection for South Africa and Zimbabwe series… Read More

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Former Pakistan captain turned cricket analyst, Rashid Latif, has termed the recent team selection for South Africa and Zimbabwe series as ‘social media selection,’ saying that such popular selection is hampering Pakistan cricket.

His remarks came in a YouTube video, in which he said that the unreasonable selection is the reason for Pakistan’s steady decline in the world ranking.

The 52-year-old pointed out several controversial selections and said that winning social media does not translate to real-life success on the ground.

I had the chance to look at domestic cricket first-class matches. There was a bowler Irfan Ullah Shah from the KP side. He showed great movement on a flat Karachi track with the old ball. He couldn’t be part of the PSL either. All franchises have social media accounts of their own, and they need to please all of them. They have won on social media, but our team has dropped to the number seventh spot in the world rankings.

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He said that the authorities need to understand that we gain nothing from winning on social media.

He called out the selection of Abdullah Shafique, based on how little he has offered in the domestic circuit. Rashid also raised a voice for Hussain Talat and Khushdil Shah, who were abruptly dropped after two South Africa games.

I think Abdullah Shafique is a good player, but it is too early. They gave a good run to Imran Butt. But we have to ask what Hussain Talat and Khushdil Shah did wrong. They went in to play such a lesser amount of deliveries and then got dropped. We feel there is a lot of likes and dislikes that are going around.

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The former captain also questioned the selection process and felt that the selectors are including their players rather than bringing in the real talent.

The selection committee has five individuals, and I think each brings in their own players. I have this doubt. Some might be from high-ranking officials in the PCB because we know all of them. We have been through this process.

Latif noted that Peshawar Zalmi’s Mohammad Imran would have been a better choice than most youngsters in the current squad but was ignored because he could not generate social media hype.

“You have [selected] players like Abdullah Shafique, Shahnawaz Dhani, Wasim Jr, all these are new players. I, however, think Peshawar Zalmi’s Mohammad Imran had better returns than all of these new players. But he doesn’t bowl above 140 kph, and is more of a typical T20 bowler. He had many variations but bowled near 130 kph and couldn’t create hype for himself. Performance-wise, however, I think he had the best economy rate. He didn’t make it into the side,” he said.

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