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Pakistan rested six of their top players for a four-day match against Northamptonshire that began here on Thursday in a bid to give them a break ahead of next week’s second Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.

A team official told ‘The News’ that skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq and six other players were not fielded in the match against Northamptonshire as most of them were exhausted after the first Test at Lord’s while all-rounder Abdul Razzaq was suffering from a back problem.

Team manager Zaheer Abbas said a few days of rest would help the players get fully fit ahead of the second Test in which the Pakistanis want to perform better than they did at Lord’s. He added Razzaq’s back problem was not serious and he should be fit and firing in the second Test.

Apart from Inzamam and Razzaq, the other players opting out of the match against Northamptonshire include Lord’s double centurion Mohammad Yousuf, leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, all-rounder Shahid Afridi and pacer Mohammad Sami.

With so many absentees, the tourists were forced to look towards the English league where some Pakistani cricketers are playing. They managed to find Test discard Arshad Khan and young medium pacer Jannisar Khan. Off-spinner Arshad and the 24-year-old Janissar came in for Kaneria and Sami in the four-day game.

Zaheer expressed that Arshad and Jannisar were just filling in and would get back to their league commitments after the four-day game.

Left-arm medium pacer Samiullah Niazi got his first outing on the tour after coming in as a replacement for the injured Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Also getting an opportunity was Rao Iftikhar Anjum who is filling in for Mohammad Asif, currently recovering from an elbow injury back home.

With Inzamam absent, Younis Khan was asked to lead the visitors. Younis missed the Lord’s match because of a knee injury. Zaheer said Younisís comeback was good news for Pakistan as the team’s vice-captain is expected to strengthen Pakistanís top order that had a below-par outing on a Lord’s wicket that was perfect for batting.

Younis lost the toss and the Pakistanis were asked to field first against Northamptonshire who have in their ranks former Indian vice-captain Sourav Ganguly. The sacked Indian star is currently campaigning to get back in his national team and is looking forward to give a solid showing against Pakistan in the four-day game.
Source:The News