Lahore, April 20: Chief selector Mohsin Khan was hopeful that the inclusion of left-arm spinner Abdul Rehman, in place of injured all-rounder Yasir Arafat, would be beneficial for Pakistan in their title defence at the World Twenty20, later this month.
”We expect the wickets there to be slow which is why a bowler like Rehman could be really helpful,” Khan said.
However, the suprise call-up to Rehman came as a heartbreak for rookie fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, who was expecting to make it to the Pakistan squad for the April 30-May 16 T20 event in the West Indies after the PCB initially showed interest on him.
The PCB also confirmed the inclusion of the spinner, including Mohammad Sami who replaces injured paceman Umar Gul in Pakistan’s World Twenty20 side.
”The national selection committee headed by Mohsin Khan has recommended the names of Mohammad Sami and Abdul Rehman to replace the injured Umar Gul and Yasir Arafat for the ICC World Twenty20.
Their names have been approved by chairman PCB,” a Pakistan Cricket Board media release said yesterday.
The 30-year-old Rahman has played two Tests, 11 One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 games in his career, though he is yet to represent Pakistan since featuring in the Lahore Test against South Africa in October 2007.
Meanwhile, Mohsin clarified that Irfan had to be overlooked as he wasn’t a part of Pakistan’s 30-man preliminary squad.
”Captain (Shahid Afridi) and coach (Waqar Younis) requested for a fast bowler in place of Yasir Arafat.
”But the problem was that all the pacers in our preliminary squad were injured which is why went for Irfan, who is exciting talent. Unfortunately, he cannot be a part of the team as there is no time to get permission from the ICC to send him to the West Indies,” the former Test opener told ‘The News’.
Mohsin further said he wasn’t aware of the fact that ”it could take up to 10 days to get a clearance from the ICC” for the inclusion of a player, who is not a part of the provisional squad.
”We didn’t know about it otherwise we would have gone for somebody from the list,” he said.
The Pakistan chief selector also tried to console the disappointed 27-year-old Irfan and stressed that the paceman would now be on the selectors’ radar for future international assignments.
”Irfan shouldn’t lose heart because he is a very good fast bowler and will be considered for future assignments,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan T20 captain Afridi said he would try to get the best out of his players to successfully defend their title in the West Indies.
”As captain, it will be my job to get the best out of the team that the selectors have picked for the Twenty20 World Cup,” added Afridi.
——-Agencies