LAHORE: Chief selector Wahab Riaz defended the selection of all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz for the New Zealand tour, reasoning the lack of backup for his role. Wahab Riaz, the head of the national men’s selection committee, accompanied by selection consultant Kamran Akmal announced a 17-member Pakistan squad for the T20I series during a press conference. Pakistan is scheduled to play a five-match T20I series against New Zealand commencing from 12 January 2024 to 21 January 2024.

This will be Shaheen Afridi’s first assignment as the T20I captain after being named Pakistan’s captain in the shortest form following Babar Azam’s resignation last month. Mohammad Nawaz retained his place in the squad, which raised some eyebrows due to his poor form for the past few months. Nawaz picked only two wickets in five games and scored 81 runs during the ICC World Cup 2023, while in his last 10 T20I appearances, he managed only 111 runs and four wickets. However, Wahab Riaz defended his selection by saying that his backup needs to be prepared before he replace him because Imad Wasim has also retired.

 “Nawaz has been playing for Pakistan for a long time and has performed in past. He is an experienced player, which will be important in New Zealand,” said Wahab Riaz.

“But unfortunately he has failed to deliver, coupled with the retirement of some players, which left us with no choice but to select him as there is no ready-made backup.”

Pakistan’s squad will partake in a training camp from 28 December 2023 to 03 January 2024 in Lahore to prepare for the tour.

In addition to the selected played in the squad, some additional players have also been invited to feature in the training camp, including, Ahmed Shehzad, Omair Bin Yousuf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Amir Khan, Sajjad Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aarif Yaqoob, Shahab Khan and Mohammad Imran Jnr.

Published in The Daily National Courier, December, 20 2023

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