ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Selector Inzamam ul Haq believes Muhammad Asif and Salman Butt should get the same opportunity as Muhammad Amir.
Inzamam said Asif and Butt should get the same opportunity as Amir if they are playing well and performing in First class cricket. He said “we haven’t closed the doors on anyone including Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzaq but performance is the only criteria”.
Speaking about injuries to the players, he said “we have taken injury of Mohammad Hafeez into account when selecting the 21 players. Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar don’t have serious injuries. they will be part of the Skill Camp” “A selector’s main job is not just looking at first-class performances but also to look at the way someone plays,” Pakpassion.net quoted him as saying.
He said every team has difficult players to deal with and it is the coach and captain’s role to handle these guys well. “Imran Khan used to handle such players really well. I will sit with Mickey Arthur and discuss a minimum level of fitness required for players. A player who will be below this required fitness will not even be considered for selection. Each individual should spend two hours a day working on his fitness,” he said.
Inzamam said talent is not enough to compete with the world anymore.
“We need to improve our whole system. Mickey will do really well as he is an experienced coach. He just has to understand the psyche of our players quickly,” he said.
He said he met Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad and explained the reasons.
“They will play again, they are both good players and as long as they don’t repeat the things we discussed, the doors are open,” he said.
Inzamam said he aims to announce the squad for the ODIs against England around the time of the 2nd or 3rd Test. “England play really well in their home conditions as we have seen in the Ashes and now against Sri Lanka as well, but we should not be afraid. The moment a player becomes scared of failure, he fails,” he said.
