I’ve just been chatting to the current KRL skipper and former Pakistan batsman Mohamad Wasim about the squad selected for the Australia series.

 

Wasim is of the opinion that this was more or less the best squad that the selectors could come up with and it was one of the better squads selected of late.

 

The one contentious selection in the squad Wasim felt was Ahmed Shehzad, whom he thinks is a good batsman but feels that Azhar Ali or Umar Amin should have been selected ahead of Shehzad.

Wasim added that Ahmed Shehzad has had a very good season and has the makings of a good one day player, but he felt that the first choice duo to open would be Nasir Jamshed and Salman Butt, with Shehzad in reserve.

 

I asked Wasim about the wicket keeping situation and whom he felt should have been selected in the squad. Wasim stated that Sarfraz Ahmed is undoubtedly the better gloveman when comparing him with Kamran Akmal, but even though Sarfraz has done well in the RBS Cup with the bat where he opened at times, Kamran remains the more versatile batsman who can also hit long in the slog overs.

We then spoke about Wasim’s team mate at KRL, Shoaib Akhtar. Wasim added that whilst Akhtar is not 100% fit he is “getting there”. Shoaib played 3 matches for KRL recently in the RBS Cup and bowled nearly 10 overs in each of the matches and looked in decent shape. Wasim added that the ongoing training camp and the warm up matches in Dubai will definitely help Akhtar’s form and fitness.

 

Wasim also mentioned that in his mind, Akhtar and Umar Gul are the real bowling matchwinners in the current Pakistan team and Shoaib Akhtar is the only Pakistani bowler who can singlehandidly win his team a test match on home soil.

 

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