LAHORE: The left handed Pakistani opener said that he was not happy being left out of the squad despite having his best performances against the Proteas. He said that his statistics were overlooked in a crucial series.
The left handed opener of Pakistan last played International Cricket in July against Sri Lanka. He sustained leg injury in Johannesburg ahead of the first test between Pakistan and South Africa in January. Since then he has not been the part of the team.
In 2012 series against Lankan tigers, Taufiq scored 65, 42 not out, 29 and 5 but couldn’t make it to first test in South Africa due to leg injury.
The left handed opener said “I feel that there should be consistent policies as far as the national team’s selection is concerned. If any player gets injured or opts out of a series due to family problems, that doesn’t mean the selectors should overlook his performance in the international arena and induct new players performing at the domestic level. When such incidents occur, players decide against calling on a resting period even if they aren’t 100% fit because of their insecurity over being able to retain their place in the team”.
He said that his best of the performances are against South Africa scoring 730 runs in six test with healthy average of 60.83 including two centuries and four fifties.
“My best performances are against the Africans, yet those statistics were overlooked and this has disappointed me a lot,” stated Umar. “These numbers should be taken into account”.
On the other hand, another opener Imran Farhat too has been in and out of the Pakistani squad. Having played 30 Tests and ODIs couldn’t make it to final eleven against the Proteas in Dubai.
Imran Farhat was out because of the domestic issues. He was replaced by new talented left hand batsman Shan Masood who scored 75 runs in first test.
