ICL: Indian Cricket League


Pakistan turn to young talent after securing series

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With the series against Zimbabwe secured, Pakistan are now looking forward to test several of their young Turks in the final two one-dayers to be played in Faisalabad and Sheikhupura.

The national selectors on Monday announced a 14-man squad for the fourth one-dayer to be played at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad tomorrow (Wednesday), bringing in talented opening batsman Khurram Manzoor, left-arm medium-pacer Wahab Riaz and young wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed. They replace out-of-form opener Salman Butt, all-rounder Yasir Arafat and experienced stumper Kamran Akmal.

�We want to give these youngsters a taste of international cricket,� chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said. �We have won the series and now there is a good opportunity to field some of our young boys who have done exceptionally well on the domestic circuit,� added the former Test cricketer.

Pakistan have won the first three one-dayers against Zimbabwe in Karachi (by 104 runs), Hyderabad (by five wickets) and Multan (by 37 runs) and are now aiming for a 5-0 clean sweep in the series.

Sarfraz was supposed to play in the series from the very start but the national cricket�s thin-tank finally opted for Kamran Akmal, at least for the initial matches. The idea was that since Akmal was more experienced and a good batsman, he would prove more useful than the rookie stumper.

Sarfraz made an impressive debut against India at Jaipur in the final one-dayer of Pakistan�s last year tour. �We want to groom a substitute wicket-keeper and Sarfraz is currently the most suitable choice,� said Salahuddin.

Salman Butt�s axing was also on the cards after having failed to impress much in the last three games. He had scores of 4, 17, and 23 in the series which has seen his young opening partner Nasir Jamshed scoring runs almost at will. In fact, Butt has been out of form for quite some time, having failed to score a fifty in his last five outings � all of them coming on batting wickets.

Yasir Arafat played just one match in the series � the third ODI in Multan � and makes way for Wahab Riaz, who took over 50 wickets for National Bank this season. Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik, Nasir Jamshed, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmad, Sohail Tanvir, Kamran Hussain, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.

Source:Cricket News

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 and is filed under General, Cricket.

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