PCB may send Sohail to Australia

Karachi, Jan 5: An urgent meeting of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) advisory council was held on Tuesday evening in which the possibility of flying Aamir Sohail to Australia was discussed.

According to well informed sources, the meeting was held at the Asghar Ali Shah Stadium where PCB chairman Lt-Gen Tauqir Zia was playing a cricket match under floodlights.

Sources said the general summoned Javed Miandad and Ramiz Raja after he received a SOS from the touring management following back-to-back defeats in warm-up matches.

However, after a 60-minute deliberation, the advisory council decided to hold back Aamir Sohail.

"Raja and Miandad were of the view that the tournament has not started yet. They said it would be unadvisable to fly a batsman to Australia on the basis of performance of the stroke-makers in two warm-up games," sources said.

However, the advisory council didn't completely rule out the possibility of Sohail joining the team in Australia during the tri-nation series starting from Jan 9.

It may be mentioned here that according to tournament rules, the participating teams are supposed to submit names of 14 players. A player can only be changed if the organizing committee permits in case a team was hampered with a genuine injury problem.