Former Chief Selector Reveals How Babar and Hasan Were Ignored at Junior Level

The former Pakistan cricketer and administrator, Haroon Rashid, has revealed that players like Babar Azam and Hasan Ali did not get enough chances at a junior level due to the poor domestic cricket structure.

During an interview with Cricket Pakistan, Rashid, former director of domestic cricket, revealed how he made sure that Babar and Hasan play for another regional side.

Our domestic structure had so many issues that even players like Babar Azam did not get chances to play for Lahore and Hasan Ali for Sialkot in junior cricket. When I saw that, I ensured that they got a chance to play for Islamabad. You can confirm this with Shakil Sheikh, who was in-charge of things at that time.

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He was also dissatisfied with Pakistan’s preparations for the T20 World Cup in India later this year, highlighting the lack of consensus between the team management and the selection committee.

The problem I see at the moment is that the nucleus, 15-20 players, for the World Cup has not been formed. The team management, selection committee, and captain should be on the same page, especially considering that there are only a handful of matches left before the World Cup.

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He quoted the example of Asif Ali, who played the first game and then got dropped. Also, the management does not know how to use Sharjeel Khan, and there are also concerns about his fitness, he added.

Haroon has also served the PCB in various roles, including national chief selector, senior and junior national teams’ coach and manager, head of youth game development, and acting head of the National Cricket Academy.