'Babar said Shan is not a middle-order batter, but the next day...': Rashid Latif furious over Pakistan's team selection
Former Pakistan captain Rashid Latif was furious over Pakistan's team selection in the ODI series against West Indies.
Pakistan made a winning start to their ODI series against West Indies on Wednesday, beating the visitors by five wickets in Multan. Babar Azam scored a tremendous century (103), Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Rizwan scored half-centuries, while Khushdil Shah remained unbeaten on 41 in a brisk knock to provide Pakistan a successful finish to the 306-run chase.
However, there was some criticism from the Pakistan fraternity over the absence of Shan Masood in the squad for the WI series. Former Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Rashid Latif has also criticised the decision to exclude Masood, further adding that it wasn't a good look when Mohammad Haris, who made his debut in the first ODI, was played in the middle-order despite performing as an opener in the Pakistan Super League.
“In the pre-match press conference, Babar Azam had said that he's not a middle-order batter, he's an opener. But the next day, Haris gets into the middle-order on the basis of his T20 performance. I didn't like it. I actually felt bad,” Latif said on his official YouTube channel.
Further talking about the selection of Haris, Latif also talked about the omission of young wicketkeeper-batter Haseebullah, who is performing consistently in Pakistan's domestic circuit.
“Everyone is involved in it. When a team is selected, the committee makes the playing XI first, which means Haris already got into the XI. I don't get it. I've seen Haseebullah performing so well for Balochistan, he keeps as well. He had two centuries in U19. Do Balochistan players not have the right to play?” said Latif.
“On one hand, you're saying that Shan Masood can't play in the middle order. On the other hand, you have a batter, who performed as an opener in PSL in the middle-order. How do you justify that?”