Saeed Ajmal makes a comeback to international cricket as Pakistan announces squad for the tour of Bangladesh

Saeed Ajmal makes a comeback to international cricket as Pakistan announces squad for the tour of Bangladesh: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the Pakistan squad for the tour of Bangladesh, later this month. After the board had received political clearance in the last week of March the board went ahead with the initial plan of playing a full series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh. A poor show by the team in the world cup saw them exit from the quarterfinal stage. The PCB said that they had analyzed all the performances before picking the squad.

Haroon Rasheed the chief selector who along with his panel sat on to pick a team for the first time, as they were recently appointed said, “We carried out an in-depth discussion about Pakistan’s World Cup performance, our future strategy and how we can take the team forward,”

“The Test ranking is good but the area of concern is the one-day team as our ranking is quite low, around seventh position. We need stability and the upcoming Bangladesh tour is very important and we have to give continuity to the team.”

The tour will begin with the 3 match One Day Internationals (ODI) series which will be played on 17, 19 and 22 of April, 2015. Following it the two teams will take on each other in the one of T20I match on the 24^th April. The toughest part of the tour will start with the first Test from April 28 to May 2; the 2nd test match will be played from May 6 to the 10^th of May.

The PCB has made quite a few calls while selecting the team, both spinners Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez make a comeback to the squad. Ajmal was cleared for bowling by the ICC with a remodeled action while Hafeez is set to undergo the test on 9^th.

As predicted Azhar Ali is introduced into the ODI squad as the skipper, elevated for his consistency in the longest format and by vacuum created by Misbah ul Haq and Shahid Afridi’s retirement from ODI cricket following the world cup 2015. Veteran batsman Younis Khan has neither announced his retirement nor has he been considered for selection while the selectors said he was ‘rested’.

The chief selector said that not only good form and skills were considered but discipline that the players are expected to follow were considered while picking and dropping a few from the announced team. He said, “If you want to play for Pakistan, you have to fulfil the requirement of discipline and country should come first, “Just not the off-field discipline but the cricketing discipline. Your job is to contribute towards Pakistan’s victory. You have to keep your individuality aside. We will support all the players, but we expect thorough professionalism. For that, if we have to take some strict measures we will take it. It’s a normal decorum; we have sent a message that cricketing discipline is more important to us. Performance must be for the benefit of the team and not the individuals.”

Rushdee in the press conference further added that, “We have seen the World Cup performances. We are not against anyone’s career, they are still available but they have to perform according to the merits and according to the team management’s thinking and strategy. It’s a combination of everything. The selection committee is taking independent decisions and there’s no pressure. We will keep aside all the pressures and will try to select the best team. We will see where Pakistan team stands now, after one year and after three years.”

Pakistan Test squad for the tour of Bangladesh:

Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Haris Sohail, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali.

New Entries:

Babar Azam, Sami Aslam, Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Sohail Khan.

Players axed from the squad:

Ehsan Adil, Imran Khan, Mohammad Talha, Shan Masood, Taufeeq Umar.

Pakistan ODI squad for the tour of Bangladesh:

Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Azhar Ali (capt), Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Sohail, Sohaib Maqsood, Sami Aslam, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan.

New Entries:

Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Sami Aslam.

Players axed from the squad:

Nasir Jamshed, Umar Akmal, Younis Khan, Ahmed Shehzad

Pakistan T20 squad for the tour of Bangladesh:

Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Mukhtar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Afridi (capt), Sohail Tanvir, Saad Nasim, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan.

New Entries:

Mukhtar Ahmed, Saeed Ajmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Mohammad Rizwan, Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan.

Players axed from the squad:

Anwar Ali, Awais Zia, Raza Hasan, Umar Akmal.