LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is unsure over inclusion of Misbahul Haq in the preliminary squad of 30 probables for the Twenty20 World Cup to be provided to the International Cricket Council (ICC) on July 12, it is reliably learnt.
The well-placed sources in the board informed that there are no chances for Misbah to make comeback in the World Twenty20 as there are a lot of talented players waiting in queues to avail their chances.
The Pakistan Cricket Board’s delay in announcing the 30-man preliminary squad is also affecting the morale of the cricketers while the list of the probables has also not been finalised, he added.
Earlier, PCB chief Zaka Ashraf, however, has played down the selection dilemma, saying that the board will stick to its policy on the matter. According to an official close to the team, Hafeez is striving to get his ‘friend’ back into the team.
“Misbah has been desperate to make a T20 comeback since the day he was dropped. Neither the selection committee nor the PCB chief is keen to recall Misbah. The reason is clear — they want to move forward rather than going back,” the official said. “We haven’t finalised the list yet,” the selector said.
“The selection committee cannot confirm the selection of Misbah or any other player in the preliminary squad as we are still working on finalising the list. Hafeez is likely to be retained as captain,” the selector added.
“But the delay is creating problems since other senior cricketers also have captaincy in mind. Recently Shahid Afridi has also shown his availability as captain,” the selector said.
On the other hand, Zaka Ashraf while talking to a private TV channel has said that Afridi was not a candidate for the captaincy and Hafeez would continue as captain of Twenty20 team. “Hafeez is an intelligent player and he will be provided chance to stamp his authority in the shorter format of the game,” he added.