Ramiz meets Babar, Wasim over T20 World Cup squad

By Muhammad JuniadPublished On 06 Jan 2023

Former Pakistan captain Ramiz Raja has met skipper Babar Azam and Chief Selector Wasim Khan as he is expected to be selected as the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman.

Raja was nominated by the Patron-in-Chief of the PCB Prime Minister Imran Khan for the post. The PCB Board of Governors will meet on September 13 to elect the chairman.

The meetings were held at the National High Performance Centre Lahore on Wednesday.

According to sources within the board, the former opener has given his vote of confidence to Babar over the selection of the squad for the T20 World Cup.

“You [Babar] are free to pick a team for the World Cup, whoever you want, I need results,” he was quoted as saying. “No one will interfere in the selection matter but no compromise on fitness.”

Ramiz was referring to the recent fielding fumbles which cost Pakistan the first Test against West Indies.

Babar thanked Ramiz for his support and vowed to give the best results in the upcoming mega-event.

Moreover, the former captain also discussed squads for New Zealand series and T20 World Cup and issues related to domestic cricket with Wasim Khan and Nadeem Khan, Director High-Performance Centre, repressively.

Earlier, it was reported that Pakistan Chief Selector Mohammad Wasim and Captain Babar Azam were at loggerheads over Shoaib Malik’s selection.

The veteran all-rounder was in fine form in the recently concluded Kashmir Premier League (KPL). He scored 240 runs in seven games. Malik was also the fourth-highest run-scorer in the sixth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

However, according to Cricket Pakistan, despite Malik’s good form and multiple requests from Babar Azam, Mohammad Wasim is against the inclusion of the 39-year-old in the Pakistan team.

He believes that Malik’s inclusion won’t benefit the Pakistan team due to the former captain’s age, the report said.

Interestingly, Mohammad Hafeez, 40, is part of the Pakistan squad despite the dip in form.

In the last 14 T20I matches this year, only Fakhar Zaman, apart from Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, has scored a fifty for the Men-in-Green.

Shoaib Malik has represented Pakistan in 116 T20Is, 287 ODIs and 35 Tests, where he scored over 11,500 runs and claimed 218 wickets.