Pakistan chief selector Mohsin Khan confirmed to PakPassion.net that discusions for the 30 man preliminary squad for next years World Cup will be held next week.

 by Saj Sadiq

23 November 2010

 

Pakistan chief selector Mohsin Khan confirmed to PakPassion.net that discusions for the 30 man preliminary squad for next years World Cup will be held next week.

"We'll sit down next week with the captain and coach and discuss who we want and decide on the 30 man preliminary squad."

The ICC regulations stipulate that a 30 man squad has to be named initially and then that is reduced to a final squad of 15.

The Pakistani selectors face a tough job to choose their preliminary squad of 30, especially given that there is confusion and uncertainty over the availability of the likes of Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal, who if available are likely to make the final cut.

When quizzed about whether Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik and Danish Kaneria would be available for selection to the selectors, Mohsin confirmed that "I can't talk about specific players and don't want to name individuals, but a list has been sent to the Pakistan Cricket Board of players that the selectors may want to select. The PCB management will then decide if any players are not available for selection and therefore we will not be in a position to select that particular player or players."

Further complications for the selection committee relate to the trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif who are under investigations for spot fixing allegations. The trio who are no longer contracted by the PCB have their hearing in front of the ICC's Anti Corruption Tribunal in Doha, Qatar from 6-11 January, 2011.

Mohsin added "again we will wait for guidance from the Board. If they say we can provisionally select Asif, Amir and Salman, then we will select them. If we are told that we can't select them, then we won't choose them. I don't like to talk about ifs and buts, so would rather say for definite once we know where we stand regarding the trio."

Its widely expected that Shahid Afridi will skipper the Pakistan side as they look to embark on a tournament that most pundits are not expecting them to perform very well in, having lost back to back one day series against England and South Africa recently.

In addition to the inconsistent form of the team, the further issue is that the squad may arrive at the World Cup with the possibility that up to four of their first choice picks could be missing due to reasons beyond the control of the captain, coach and selectors.