Pakistan selectors name Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz in final World Cup squad
Islamabad, May 20 (IBNS): Naming few major changes in the World Cup squad, Pakistan have added Asif Ali, Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz in their team for the showpiece event.
Initially, these cricketers failed to find a place in the provisional squad.
They replaced Abid Ali, Faheem Ashraf and Junaid Khan.
Pakistan were defeated by England 4-0 in the ODI series.
Chair of Pakistan men’s selection committee, Inzamam-ul-Haq, told Pakistan Cricket Board website that the team combination has been revised after taking into account the fast bowlers’ performance against England as well as considering the nature of wickets that are likely to be presented in the World Cup.
“Junaid and Faheem had been originally preferred over a few other bowlers based on their recent performances and the investment we had made on them since 2017. They had the opportunity to cement their Word Cup spots, but they were well below-par in the series against England even though they were up against the difficult challenge of bowling on placid and batsmen-friendly wickets," he said.
“After it became obvious that the bat is likely to dominate the ball in the World Cup, we revisited our strategy and reverted to the pace of Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz. Furthermore, Amir and Wahab give the fast bowling attack more experience to back and support the relatively inexperienced but immensely talent Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Hasnain,” he said.
Pakistan squad for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019:
Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper, captain)
Asif Ali
Babar Azam
Fakhar Zaman
Haris Sohail
Hasan Ali
Imad Wasim
Imam-ul-Haq
Mohammad Amir
Mohammad Hafeez
Mohammad Hasnain
Shadab Khan
Shaheen Shah Afridi
Shoaib Malik
Wahab Riaz
The following is the Pakistan cricket team’s schedule of ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 matches:
24 May – v Afghanistan (warm-up), Bristol (d)
26 May – v Bangladesh (warm-up), Cardiff (d)
31 May – v Windies, Trent Bridge (d)
3 June – v England, Trent Bridge (d)
7 June – v Sri Lanka, Bristol (d)
12 June – v Australia, Taunton (d)
16 June – v India, Old Trafford (d)
23 June – v South Africa, Lord’s (d)
26 June – v New Zealand, Edgbaston (d)
29 June – v Afghanistan, Headingley (d)
5 July – v Bangladesh, Lord’s (d/n)
Image: Mohammad Amir Twitter page
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