'I cannot understand why Abrar Ahmed is not playing'

Former Pakistan cricketer Yasir Hameed on Tuesday said that he is failing to understand why spinner Abrar Ahmed is not a part of Pakistan’s playing XI during the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in India.

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It is pertinent to mention that Abrar Ahmed was included in Pakistan’s ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 squad as a travelling reserve with pacer Zaman Khan, and batter Mohammad Haris rather than the 15-member squad.

Abrar Ahmed is part of an elite group of just three bowlers to take a five-wicket haul in the very first session of their Test career. He is also the third bowler after Australia’s Fred Spofforth and West Indies’ Alf Valentine to grab five wickets before lunch on the opening day of their Test debut.

He is the only bowler to do so in the present century since Alf Valentine achieved the feat in 1950 while Fred Spofforth had this honour in 1879.

Abrar Ahmed also becomes the third Pakistani bowler after Mohammad Nazir and Mohammad Nazir to take seven scalps in the debut Test.

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The spinner has represented Pakistan in Test cricket only. So far, he has represented his country in six matches and bagged 38 wickets at an average of 31.07 along with strike rate of 51.2 and economy of 3.63.

His bowling in National T20 was also the talk of the town.

Yasir Hameed talked about Abrar Ahmed’s prospects of playing the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 in the ARY News show ‘Off The Record’. The right-handed opening batter added that he was shocked to see the spinner not being selected in the side when he has taken 10 wickets under batting-friendly conditions.

The former cricketer that a bowler can thrive in ODIs when he can take wickets on such pitches.

Moreover, former captain Azhar Ali called for strict accountability of foreign coaches. He said highly paid foreign coaches should be held accountable for Pakistan’s poor performances.

Azhar Ali went on to say that Pakistan bowlers – unlike Afghanistan – failed to pressurize the opposition, adding that Green Shirts have no platform for training.

He hoped Pakistan would make a comeback following its defeats to arch-rivals and hosts India along with five-time winners Australia and Afghanistan.

Azhar Ali said winning matches does not mean that the problems don’t have to be solved. He called for improvement in the domestic structure.

He lamented about the lack of rehabilitation facilities for injured players.