Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz was named in Pakistan squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 on Monday, May 20, when the PCB selectors named the last 15-man contingent for the marquee tournament.
Both Amir and Wahab were excluded from the temporary squad that had been named last month. The duo takes the place of Junaid Khan, the left pacemaker, and Faheem Ashraf, the all-rounder.
At the other major change, the middle-class batsman, Asif Ali, replaced Abid Ali. And leg-spinner Shadab Khan, who had suffered a viral infection and pulled out of the series against England, has recovered and retained his place in the last 15. That meant there was no place for testing regularly Yasir Shah, who had replaced the Shadab England games.
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Allhamdulilah, humbled and proud to be part of the pakistan WC squad InshAllah going to give 100% and we all will try and make our nation proud, thank u all for ur support and endless duas we all need them more now. #pakistanZindabad
— Mohammad Amir (@iamamirofficial) May 20, 2019
While leaving the squad for the World Cup preliminaries, Amir had the chance to prove himself in the ODI series with five games against the world’s # 1 in England. However, he went down with chickenpox and did not participate in the series that Pakistan lost 4-0. Amir should undergo a medical examination in London, and a PCB release has now confirmed that he has recovered from the disease.
Amir’s form has been a cause for concern for Pakistan in recent years. Since the final of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, Amir has sent 101 Over in 14 innings and collected only five wickets. His strike rate of 121.2 in this time is almost three times as high as his career hit rate of 41.2.
Nevertheless, Amir brings with him past successes in England, as can be seen in the final of this Champions Trophy, where his 3-16 victory in six overs led India to a 180-run defeat. It is also hoped that conditions in England that support Amir’s natural strength in swinging the ball could reverse the trend.
Pakistan finalises make-up of World Cup squadhttps://t.co/I4xFbvC5sF #WeHaveWeWill pic.twitter.com/tTdA8iC6Pj
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) May 20, 2019
Amir’s return was also aided by the lackluster show of the Pakistani bowlers against England. They conceded more than 300 goals in each of the four games. Three of them were over 350, and in two of these cases they could not defend the totals 358 and 340.
On the other hand, Wahab was not in the payroll for the England series. The left winger was in fact not close to the one-day Pakistani team, having won more than 50 in a group game against India during the Champions Trophy.
Inzamam-ul-Haq, Chief Selector, explained the reasons for choosing the Amir-Wahab duo: “Junaid and Faheem were originally preferred to some other bowlers because of their recent achievements and the investment we made Being able to consolidate their championship rankings was far below average in the series against England, despite the difficult challenge of bowling on quiet and bully-friendly wickets.
