World Cup 2019: Inzamam-Ul-Haq announces his all-time Pakistan World Cup squad; makes surprise picks

It’s the World Cup season for all the cricket fans and the ICC World Cup 2019 will begin in a week’s time on May 30. Currently, all the ten participating teams are playing the warm-up games amongst one another which started with Pakistan taking on Afghanistan while Sri Lanka and South Africa locked horns on Friday.

These matches will continue till May 28 with all teams playing two games each. Though England and India have been touted as the favourites to win the tournament, and defending champions Australia is not far behind. However, one contender that has not been seriously considered is Pakistan, who won the last ICC event held in England in 2017, the Champions Trophy 2017, defeating Indian team in the finals.

The Pakistani squad led by Sarfaraz Ahmed was chosen by chief selector Inzamam-Ul-Haq, who was part of Pakistan’s one and only World Cup victory in 1992 in Australia and New Zealand. And recently, as his last assignment as chief selector of the team, picked the squad for the upcoming tournament and will leave his post irrespective of team’s performance.

Inzamam picks Sharjeel Khan and Kamran Akmal in his all-time World Cup XI

Inzamam, who is one of the finest finds of the 1992 World Cup, thanks to his amazing innings in the semi-finals against New Zealand, when he scored 60 off, runs in 37 balls to bring his team back in the game and helped them reach their first finals. Inzamam, retired from the game after Pakistan was ousted from the 2007 event in the group stages with over 10,000 runs to his name.

Recently, Inzamam-Ul-Haq revealed his all-time Pakistani World Cup XI and it has some highly controversial inclusions as his picks can be seriously debated upon. Starting with the opening batsmen, Inzamam picked Majid Khan and Saeed Anwar, and along with him, picked Sharjeel Khan. “I would pick Sharjeel along with openers Saeed Anwar and Majid Khan. Sharjeel is an outstanding talent and it’s a shame that his career has been cut short,” Inzamam was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Just to point out, Sharjeel has been banned for five years for his involvement in a corruption scandal during the 2017 Pakistan Super League (PSL). Going further, he picks stalwarts Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, and Mohammad Yousuf in his middle order, graciously leaving himself out. Imran Khan, Pakistan’s World Cup winning captain was chosen as the captain of the all-time XI.

Inzamam then picked Kamran Akmal as his wicketkeeper over choices like Rashid Latif, Moin Khan, and Wasim Bari. As spinners, he went on to pick Abdul Qadir and Shahid Afridi, along with Saqlain Mushtaq. To bolster the pace bowling attack of his squad, he picks three of the greatest fast bowlers the country have produced in Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, and Shoaib Akhtar.

Inzamam-Ul-Haq’s All-Time Pakistan World Cup squad: Sharjeel Khan, Saeed Anwar, Majid Khan, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal (WK), Imran Khan (C), Abdul Qadir, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Afridi, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar.

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