Pakistan Selectors pick 22 but PCB makes 23 (4 January 1999)

4 January 1999

Pakistan Selectors pick 22 but PCB makes 23

By Our Sports Reporter

KARACHI, Jan 3: Pakistan cricket selectors had submitted a list of 22 probables to the executive council but the councillors approved 23 cricketers, insiders said on Sunday.

The three-member selection committee had not included former captain Aamir Sohail in their list. But their decision was overruled by the council.

The chief selector Wasim Bari refused to confirm or deny the report, saying: "We have submitted the list to the council. Now you should either ask the councillors or the cricket secretary about it. As far as I am concerned, I have no statement to offer."

But a councillor said in confidence: "The name of Aamir Sohail was included on the insistence of a select group which was instrumental in appointing him as captain. In fact, his name was included by voting."

The councillor, however, observed that the PCB had the powers to make changes in the list submitted by the selectors. But he stressed that this authority is normally not exercised as the council had complete faith in the selectors.

The last time the selection committee's decision was overruled was in 1982 when the selection committee headed by Hasib Ahsan resigned in protest on the selection of Imran Khan as captain who was unfit because of shin fracture and he did not play in the first three Tests of the five-match series in Australia.

"But here the council felt that Aamir Sohail was not getting a fair deal from the selectors.

"There was a feeling among the councillors that Aamir Sohail, named Pakistan captain till the World Cup in June 1999, has already been sacked. His omission from the probables list would have resulted in stirring up another controversy. It is more of an administrative decision," he felt.

Source :: Dawn (https://dawn.com/)