LAHORE
\nHailing the performance of the natio\u00adnal team which registered a 2-0 clean sweep in the Test series in Sri Lanka on Thur\u00ads\u00adday, former chief sele\u00adctor Haroon Rasheed termed it the first step towards a bright future of Pakistan cricket, provided his successor uses the available pool of players properly.
\n\u201cThe positive aspect of Pakistan\u2019s Test series victory is that it came in Sri Lanka and without any major batting contribution from [captain] Babar Azam, which indicate that this team contains several match-winners,\u201d former Test cricketer Haroon, who also selected Pakistan Shaheens team which won the Emerging Teams Asia Cup in Sri Lanka earlier this month after outplaying arch-rivals India by 128 runs in the final, told Dawn on Thursday.
\n\u201cAfter fine performances by the senior [Test] team and Shaheens in Sri Lanka and the U-19 team\u2019s show against Bangladesh, the PCB now has a nucleus of 50-55 players [to choose from],\u201d the former batter added.
\n\u201cHowever, the primary responsibility of making sure the available talent is not wasted will be on the shoulders of the next selection committee.\u201d
\nPakistan won the first Test in Galle by four wickets before recording a magnificent inning and 222 runs triumph in the second Test in Colombo in four days on Thursday, thanks to a career-best seven-wicket show from left-arm orthodox spinner Nauman Ali.
\nHaroon said the spin trio of Nauman, Abrar Ahmad and part-timer Salman Ali Agha proved more effective as compared to Sri Lankan\u2019s spin attack.
\nHe also appreciated the nice performances in Sri Lanka by upcoming batters including Saud Shakeel, Salaman Ali Agha and Abdullah Shafique, who excelled when Babar struggled.
\nWith this victory, Pakis\u00adtan may get top position in the ICC Test Champion\u00adship for 2023-24, with the first round in progress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LAHORE Hailing the performance of the natio\u00adnal team which registered a 2-0 clean sweep in the Test series in Sri Lanka on Thur\u00ads\u00adday, former chief sele\u00adctor Haroon Rasheed termed it the first step towards a bright future of Pakistan cricket, provided his successor uses the available pool of players properly. \u201cThe positive aspect of Pakistan\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-346206","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n