ISLAMABAD- Chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has broken silence over the issueof rejection of Fawad Alam and selection of his nephew Imam ul Huq.
He faced criticism over Fawad Alam’s exclusion, yet again, from thePakistan squad despite his consistently high batting average in domesticcricket.
Fawad, whose first-class average hovers at more than 55, has beenoverlooked for Tests by various selection committees and captains over thepast eight years – a mystery that has left fans baffled and angrier witheach passing season.
Despite being called up for the fitness camp for next month’s Ireland andEngland tours, Fawad was left out of the 16-member squad that named fiveuncapped players ahead of him.
“Fawad Alam is an outstanding player but in the last three years there areothers at the top of the list,” Inzamam said in an interview to ESPNcricinfolink>.”We got him here in the nets but we found Saad Ali to be better, and thedecision to prefer Saad was unanimous, with input from all the coachingstaff and captain.
“Fawad is a good player and we obviously can’t ignore his career average;that is why he was brought into the camp. During my tenure, I have given 12to 14 players an opportunity and none of them have disappointed us. If youlook back in the past three seasons, there are players who have scored moreruns than Fawad Alam.”
Pointing out that “dropping any player doesn’t mean we are disregardingthem,” Inzamam said there are “many more things we take into consideration.”
“I am not sure why Fawad wasn’t picked in the past before me but if you askme about my tenure as chief selector, I have seen better players.”
Fawad made his Test debut in 2009. In the only three Tests he has played,he scored 250 runs at an average of 41.66 with one century.
“I am not taking away anything from Fawad, as he has scored a lot of runsin domestic cricket at a great average. When there is a competition, someplayers get left out, but that doesn’t mean their career ends there,”Inzamam continued. “We haven’t ignored him, we have actually given anopportunity to a few others we thought were more suited to Englishconditions. Last season, we had tough bowling conditions in the QeA, andSaad Ali was a stand-out performer, and that is why he was preferred. Ihave spoken to Fawad on many occasions and given him the confidence to keepon working hard.