Pakistan’s veteran pacer, Wahab Riaz has lashed out at former chief selector, Mohammad Wasim, for favoritism during his tenure. Wahab said that Wasim sidelined experienced players like himself due to his preference for certain players which had an adverse impact on the national team’s performance.
Wahab added that despite performing in franchise T20 leagues all over the world, he was not considered for selection as Wasim wanted to stamp his authority by selecting his own players.
The 37-year-old further remarked that players such as Imad Wasim and Shoaib Malik were also ignored despite playing a crucial part in Pakistan’s 2021 T20 World Cup campaign. He said that the two players deserved a spot in Pakistan’s squad in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Laptop chief selector [Wasim] did the poor selection. He didn’t have justification for not selecting players like Imad Wasim, Shoaib Malik, and Sarfaraz Ahmed. Shoaib and Imad performed well in T20 World Cup 2021. Why didn’t their performance come on his laptop? Why were they ignored for the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia? What was their fault?
The fiery pacer went on to take a dig at former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, Ramiz Raja. Wahab stated that he was fully aware that Ramiz was the final authority behind the selection of the players, but said that these matters should have been discussed with the experienced players.
Wahab said that Mohammad Wasim’s stance on not selecting these players on the basis of being over-aged was not right as there are numerous examples of players performing at the highest level despite being older. He said that the likes of Misbah-ul-Haq, Rohit Sharma, Faf du Plessis, and Virat Kohli have performed for their countries at an old age and this should not be the criteria when selecting the players.
Former Peshawar Zalmi skipper said that he is hopeful that favoritism will have no role to play under the new PCB regime.
“Najam Sethi’s arrival is good for cricket. I hope he does justice with players like me, Sarfaraz, Hafeez, Malik, and Hassan Ali who have performed well for Pakistan,” Wahab stated.
