PCB defends Ahmed axing

Pakistan board made it clear that Ahmed Shehzad was not dropped from the national T20 team due to any disciplinary reason.

The Telegraph – Mon 23 Jul, 2012 3:44 PM IST

Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board has made it clear that young opener, Ahmed Shehzad, was not dropped from the national T20 team for the matches against Australia and the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka due to any disciplinary reason.

"There is no disciplinary issue with Shehzad's selection. Neither has the national team manager, Naved Cheema lodged any report against him," a board official said.

Rumours have abounded about the reasons for Shehzad's exclusion for the coming series after he was recalled to the national T20 squad for the Sri Lanka tour after a string of impressive performances in domestic cricket and the Bangladesh Premier League.

The board official said that the decision to select the squad was with the national selection committee, which also consulted the captain and coach.

"Shehzad has been dropped purely for cricketing reasons as the selectors felt that Imran Nazir deserved a chance to make a comeback after his recent performances," the official said.

A source in the board however confirmed that Shehzad's exclusion only came about on the insistence of T20 captain, Mohammed Hafeez, who showed more faith in the selection of Nazir.

"It was on Hafeez's insistence that the selectors agreed to include Nazir instead of Shehzad as Nasir Jamshed was a automatic choice of both the selectors and the team management," the source said.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will implement the Decision Review System (DRS) for the one-day series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates next month.

A board official said that a sponsorship deal had been nearly finalised that would allow the board to use the DRS technology in the three one-day Internationals against Australia.

"We're very much in favour of having the DRS in ODI and Test matches and we see the Australia series as a good platform to promote the technology," he said.

Pakistan could use the DRS in their last two Test and one-day series against Sri Lanka and England due to sponsorship deals.

"The sponsors will tie up directly with the broadcasters to cover expenses for using the technology," the official said.

Pakistan will play three ODIs and an equal number of T20 Internationals against Australia from August 28.

The official said that Pakistan was looking forward to use DRS when it tour South Africa in January for a full series.

"The host country has the right to decide whether it wants to offer use of DRS to the touring side but as far as we know South Africa use the DRS in their home series," he said.

The PCB is looking at the Australia series to earn some useful profits even though it has been forced to play the series in the UAE after the Australians refused to tour Pakistan due to security concerns.

Matches

MORE TOP STORIES TODAY