'He is just a puppet' - Unhappy with Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad, Shoaib Akhtar takes dig at chief selector

Former Pakistan pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar has expressed his displeasure over the squad selected for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup scheduled to begin in Oman and UAE from October 17. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the squad earlier this week and there were few notable omissions in form of few experienced players like Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed, and Fakhar Zaman.

Some experts and critics have also questioned the selections of few inexperienced players for the marquee event and felt they do not possess much first-class experience to be named in the 15-member squad. Known to talk straightforward, Akhtar has this time come hard down at the PCB chief selector Mohammad Wasim and said changes will be made going ahead.

All the teams have the right to change their squads till October 10 and for that very reason, Akhtar has named few players whom he feels are correct for the T20 World Cup. “The Pakistan squad for T20 World Cup will be changed. Mohammad Wasim is not a chief selector, he is just a puppet,” said Akhtar to Cricket Pakistan.

The former fast bowler has included Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, and Shahnawaz Dahani in his squad. Interestingly, all three players have performed relatively well in the domestic circuit. Zaman has been in brilliant form in 50-over cricket and Ashraf has chipped with vital contributions with bat and ball in Test and white-ball formats.

“The Pakistan squad for T20 World Cup should include Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Shoaib Malik, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Shahnawaz Dahani, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Fakhar Zaman, and Hussain Talat,” he added.

Wasim Khan confirms Pakistan skipper Babar Azam happy with the squad

Pakistan’s 15-member squad has become a hot topic of discussion in the last few days. There were reports surfacing about skipper Babar Azam being unhappy with certain players’ inclusion. Later, Wasim Khan clarified the matter and said that Azam is clearly supporting the vision of PCB and is in agreement with the players being picked.

Also, few players had a meeting for the same with expected PCB chairman Ramiz Raja, wherein it was revealed that the meeting was held in a positive and healthy manner.