Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the squad for the upcoming white-ball leg of the series against Australia starting from March 29 at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore as per the revised schedule.
The big headline is that Champions Trophy-winning captain, Sarfaraz Ahmad, and all-rounder, Imad Wasim, lost their places to uncapped players, Asif Afridi and Mohammad Haris.
Sarfaraz Ahmad’s exclusion was expected as Rizwan has been performing brilliantly while the board is looking for another option in the squad as Rizwan’s backup but Imad’s exclusion was somewhat surprising for fans.
In the recently concluded PSL, Imad represented Karachi Kings. While Karachi fared poorly, his individual performance was also not up to the mark throughout the season.
In the seventh edition of PSL, Imad batted in 8 innings and scored 141 runs at an average of 20.14 while in bowling, he took 6 wickets at an average of 39.83. Here are the detailed numbers of Imad Wasim in PSL 7:
| Batting | Innings | Runs | Average | Strike Rate | Highest Score |
| 8 | 141 | 20.14 | 142.42 | 55 | |
| Bowling | Innings | Wickets | Average | Economy | Best Bowling |
| 9 | 6 | 39.83 | 6.82 | 2/30 |
In the international arena since his debut in 2015, he has played 55 ODI matches and scored 986 runs at an average of 42.86 which seems pretty good, especially in the lower order. He has 44 wickets at an average of 44.47.
| Batting | Innings | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s |
| 40 | 986 | 42.86 | 5 | 0 | |
| Bowling | Matches | Wickets | Average | 5w | Best Bowling |
| 53 | 44 | 44.47 | 1 | 5/14 |
In T20 internationals, the all-rounder has played 58 matches for the Green Shirts and scored 339 runs at an average of 13.03, and also took 55 wickets while maintaining a bowling average of 23.49.
| Batting | Innings | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s |
| 37 | 339 | 13.03 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bowling | Innings | Wickets | Average | 5w | Best Bowling |
| 57 | 55 | 23.49 | 1 | 5/14 |
In 2021, his performance in the shortest format of cricket was not impressive, however, he remained a regular part of the playing XI. The left-handed all-rounder played nine matches while scoring 37 runs during his 4 innings at an average of 9.25.
In a bowling department, Imad took 8 wickets at an average of 27.75 which is not too impressive as an all-rounder.
| T20I | Batting | Innings | Runs | Average | 50s | 100s |
| 4 | 37 | 9.25 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Bowling | Matches | Wickets | Average | 3w | Best Bowling | |
| 9 | 8 | 27.75 | 0 | 2/25 |
It is pertinent to mention that Imad has not played ODI cricket in the year 2021 while in 2020 he played just 2 matches.
Do you think these numbers warrant a place for Imad Wasim in the national team? Let us know in the comments section.
Imad doesn’t have leadership and risk-taking Skills have you remember the PSL Final when crucial runs were needed and he didn’t come on the crease. So that if runs never chase anybody can blame him.
As far as bowling is concerned in most of the cases he has bowled the Initial over where generally Batsman tries to set himself on the crease and run never floated as in the death overs.
In the recent PSL 7 KKing was struggling a lot but as one of the senior members what role he has played Nothing.
He is just like Ahmed Shazad, Umar Akmal nothing else.
I remember when he debuted the International Cricket he can speak English very good pretend to be a modernized guy.
But it’s not a modeling platform brother if you have a talent you have to prove it. Simple
having a long hair pretended the Effective and engaged team member without Playing your part is not a solution for you.
You deserve this exclusion.
Same like Sarfaraz He is a good wicket-keeper but not a good batsman
Isnt the point of the first bowler to gain wickets which Imad usually gets?
Moreover, in the Psl he actually did score at least more than all the other lower order batsmen by bringing Karachi twice close to victory through batting and once through balling. Plus in the PSL final didn’t he arrive in the end and score the winning runs? You also forget that it was him that earned the super over for karachi in that season as well.
I simply don’t understand as to why his exclusion makes sense as he hardly is given a chance in international cricket to bowl even with his good stats and apart from leagues and is usually replaced by newbies even in ODI where his inclusion would make sense as the nearest world cup is a T20 one.
They both dont deserve to be in team and neither does fahim Ashraf , plz stopping supporting friends and taking media pressure and select only on merit .haris and Asif afridi are far better choices and future
Imad Exclusion is Also surprising for me……….The only current Allrounder of pakistan to be ranked in the Top 10 Odi Allrounder rankings of the ICC……Yes he is a bit out of form with the bat nowadays but he is still pretty good with the ball…………He Atleast deserved a place in the Squad !
Amad is one of the best player of green cap holders. He is the only attacking and wicket taking bowler in power play. He has extra ordinary skill with bat. He can play attacking and defensive game with bat at the same time. Indeed he is one of the complete all rounders of cric field. Best Wishes.