Waqar Younis in Lahore, meets Salim Altaf (10 Aug 1997)

10 August 1997

Waqar Younis in Lahore, meets Salim Altaf

By Our Sports Reporter

KARACHI, Aug 9: Speedster Waqar Younis is in Lahore and was expected to contact the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). But till Saturday evening he had not approached the authorities, chairman of selectors, Salim Altaf, told Dawn from the Punjab metropolis.

The chief selector disclosed that he had an informal meeting with the paceman in a restaurant on Thursday evening. "He was with his family and I was with mine. We had a very brief informal chat during which I asked him to contact the PCB.

"I was in the PCB office till the afternoon but till then he had not contacted the PCB chief executive," the former Test seamer said. When pressed, Altaf said: "During the course of the meeting, Waqar Younis said he would inform the PCB about his availability by the end of August. But it will be too late for us by then because we have to finalise the team by Aug 20 and then send it to Canada for other formalities, including the publicity aspect."

"I have a feeling that he has county commitments and might not be able to make it to Canada. But it is my hunch. Waqar Younis has not officially informed the officials about his availability," Salim Altaf added.

The chief selector emphasised that Aug 20 was his deadline and only those players will be selected who will inform the board about his availability before that. "The same applies with Mushtaq Ahmad. He has yet to contact the PCB."

Independent sources have, however, said that Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmad have extensive county assignments till the first week of September. The sources added that the two bowlers have indirectly conveyed to the PCB about their non-availability.

"As the situation stands at present, Ijaz Ahmad is the only player who has conveyed his decision to the authorities," Salim Altaf said. Selection committee member Zaheer Abbas is scheduled to leave for England on Saturday morning and is expected to get in touch with Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmad to seek their confirmation. "I will talk to Zaheer on Wednesday and after that only we will decide what has to be done," added Altaf.

Salim Altaf said preliminary discussions were held and various issues were discussed in detail. "The availability of the players was not the only issue on the agenda. We discussed the opposition (India), then the form and fitness of the players, then the inclusion of some players from Pakistan A team, then about the training camp."

"Haroon Rasheed wants to start the camp by Aug 20 and I think that might be held in Karachi because of bad weather owing to delayed rains in Lahore." It is anticipated that the team may also be announced earlier than the scheduled time (Aug 20) if the availability of the players was known. Zaheer Abbas's approval, in that case, will taken on telephone as a tentative list has been prepared by the selectors that does include the names of Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmad (all playing county cricket), Azhar Mahmood, Hasan Raza and Mohammad Wasim (all touring England with the Pakistan A squad).

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