Five new upcoming players join
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Pumped up with Pakistan team’s unassailable 4-0 lead against little known Zimbabwe,the national selectors have included five new upcoming players in the 15-member squad for the last one-day of the five-match series against Zimbabwe being played on February 2 at Sheikhupura.
Following their previous practice to give chance to fresh blood in the so far played matches the selectors, now has called Abdur Rauf, Wahab Riaz, Khurram Manzoor, Naumanullah and Rizwan Ahmed.
Rauf is the top wicket taker of the domestic cricket with 367 in four-day matches and 48 in one-dayers. Interestingly he was included in the 15-member squad announced for the fourth ODI, but when he was on his way to join Pakistan team in Faisalabad the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) directed him that his name had been included wrongly and he would be considered for the fifth one, thus the list of 15 probables was reduced to 14. Rauf has the competition against two other medium-pacer, Juniad Zia, son of former PCB chairman Tauqir Zia and Wahab Riaz. Junaid, the veteran of four international matches in which he took just three wickets, had claimed 46 wickets in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy while Wahab had 51 scalps. Leg-spinner Rizwan Ahmad, also good with the bat, and middle-order batsman Nomanullah, who had scored 949 runs in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy are likely to get the cap. Prolific batsman Younis Khan, after one-match rest at Faisalabad, returned back to the squad. Three players, who were the part of the playing eleven at Faisalabad are not included for different reasons. Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Yousuf, both have been given rest to give chances to others. Kamran Hussain, who made the debut in the third match at Multan has been sidelined due to fitness problem.
15-member squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Nasir Jamshed, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naumanullah, Fawad Alam, Rizwan Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Sohail Tanveer, Junaid Zia, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Abdur Rauf. “ We are giving chance to new talent as per our policy because it is the right time to access the individual talent of players for future needs”, said Shafqat Rana, one of the selector.
He said it is a good sign that new players are justifying their selection by giving good performance. “ The last match is also of big importance as it will help in exposing players to high level of cricket besides kowing their future prospect in the game “,he said. He rejected a questioner that the current series against Zimbabwe was a mis-match as Pakistan team is far better in international ranking. “If stronger teams do not play with the weaker teams how can they (weak sides) get experience and in today’s cricket it is always a mistake to undermine the abilities of the opponents no matter at which place they stand in ranking”, he said. “ If Zimbabwe had beaten Pakistan then the performance of Pak team could have come under grave criticism”,he said.—