da dobrowin： The Pakistan cricket selectors had picked an unfit AzharMahmood for the ongoing Sharjah Cup after having bungled upthe case of paceman Mohammad Akram last August
30-Oct-2001The Pakistan cricket selectors had picked an unfit AzharMahmood for the ongoing Sharjah Cup after having bungled upthe case of paceman Mohammad Akram last August.According to insiders in the board, Azhar was struggling wasstomach injury owing to using wrong medication for sidestrain.Sources further said Azhar had skipped PIA’s threesuccessive matches in the Patron’s Trophy after havingplayed in the first game and finished with a match haul of10 wickets.They further said Azhar had taken limited part in thetraining camp, held prior to team’s departure, and alsowatched the one-day practice game between Pakistan XI andRest of Pakistan from the dressing room.Sources said Azhar has been advised a six-week rest and itwas highly unlikely that he would appear in any of theremaining three matches, in case Pakistan reaches the final,in Sharjah.Earlier in August, the selectors had picked paceman MohammadAkram. And if Akram’s explanation is to be believed, he hadadvised the concerned authorities not to consider him forthe matches as he was planning to proceed to England.The selectors would continue to pick unfit players unlessthey don’t visit the stadia. Their lack of interest can bejudged from the fact that the chairman of selectors WasimBari visited the UBL Sports Complex only on Sunday afterhaving missed the entire previous round action and much ofthe ongoing proceedings.While Bari was generous enough to make a courtesy call atthe UBL Sports Complex, his fellow selector Mohsin Khan hasyet to make his presence felt despite being employed at ahandsome Rs 30,000 monthly stipend.Highly placed sources further revealed that the currentPakistan team have at least three players whose selectionwas not supported by the selectors. But instead of pleadingthe cases of the players and convincing the concernedauthorities with their arguments, they kept mum.Imran Nazir, Fazle Akbar and Arshad Khan were in theselectors’ squad but Taufiq Umer, Shoaib Akhtar and ShoaibMalik were picked instead in the side that was named Oct 13.