Rashid Latif slams Pakistan team’s selection

KARACHI: Former captain of the Pakistan cricket team, Rashid Latif, on Wednesday slammed the selection of the team for three-match One-day International (ODI) series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi.

“Apart from two newcomers, this is almost the same team picked by the previous selection committee. So what is the change?” Rashid questioned. “We must think about the future ahead and pick the players accordingly,” he added.

The selection committee headed by Salahuddin Ahmed with Shafqat Rana and Saleem Jaffar as it members picked two uncapped players, all-rounder Fawad Alam from Karachi and left-arm paceman Najaf Shah from Rawalpindi.

Rashid said the selectors should only do one job; not like Shafqat Rana, who is also the coach of KPT. “They should fully focus on selecting the best players who are also mentally tough and rugged for international cricket,” Rashid said.

He said the selectors, apart from watching the players in action, must also get information from match referees and umpires about the conditions of the pitches the team plays on, quality of bowling and batting of the opposition before picking the players for the matches.