Australians Puzzled by Misbah’s Strange Team Selection

Pakistan’s cricket team selection has raised a lot of eyebrows since the new management took over. Misbah’s selection has already been widely criticized in his short stint as the Cheif Selector and Head Coach of the Pakistani cricket team.

For example, before the series between Pakistan and Australia kicked off, Steve Smith revealed that he is wary of the threat posed by Mohammad Abbas after his teammates told him about his skill and accuracy.

However, when the team was announced for the first Test match, Mohammad Abbas’s name was missing which puzzled some and shocked many.

Defending the Decision to Drop Abbas

The Pakistan management, despite making no sense, opted to defend their decision of dropping Mohammad Abbas.

Bowling coach Waqar Younis revealed that pace bowler Mohammad Abbas was dropped for the first Test against Australia since “he is currently not in his best rhythm”.

He hinted that Abbas might return for the next match against Australia.

In the last tour of New Zealand, he had an injury and he hasn’t been bowling as well as he has done in the past against Australia and of course England too but we aren’t losing hope in him, as he is our main man, we will have a close look at him and once we get into Adelaide we will have to think about him.

Australians on Abbas Being Dropped

Tim Paine

I was pretty happy [Abbas] didn’t play if I’m being totally honest. In the UAE on wickets that offered him absolutely nothing he somehow made it move. They said he may have been under an injury cloud. I’m sure he will be looked at pretty closely for the next Test match. Our guys know how good he is.

Ricky Ponting

I was surprised when (Abbas) didn’t play … but then talking to Rameez Raja (former Pakistan international) apparently he’s not in the best of form, he’s dropped a couple of yards of pace – and he’s never been overly quick anyway,” Ponting said. “But you think about these conditions, it would’ve been perfect for him. Even the next Test in Adelaide, it’s going to be great conditions for him there as well.

He further stated:

There’s probably a couple of the Aussie batsmen who think it’s good that he’s not playing because I think they can probably handle the other two (Imran Khan or Shaheen Afridi) better than they can handle him.

Nathan Lyon

I was actually really surprised, personally. I thought the way he bowled in our series in the UAE was absolutely world-class. I think he’s ranked (around) the top 10 so for him to miss out, it must show the quality of the Pakistan bowling. So we’re not going to take them lightly, that’s for sure – they’ve got some world-class bowlers there – but yeah, very surprised that Mohammad wasn’t a part of their side.

Allan Border

Mohammad Abbas tormented Australia in the UAE, very surprised he wasn’t used here at the Gabba. He would have been a perfect guy to be in this bowling unit.

Shane Warne

I don’t know why Abbas isn’t playing because he posed a lot of threats to Australia in the UAE series. Pakistan gave themselves a disadvantage by not including him, in my opinion.

Jason Gillespie

The Australians are pretty happy that Mohammad Abbas wasn’t in the side. You only have to look at his record, he’s been very effective for Pakistan.