Islamabad
\nWahab Riaz, a selection committee member and senior Pakistan team manager, responded to a query regarding rifts within the national squad by saying that there was no best choice other than Babar Azam for leading the team as he is most experienced skipper and also a best player in terms of individual statistics.
\nHe termed media reports of grouping within the team over captaincy issue just \u201cspeculations\u201d. Riaz criticised that local media and some segments of social media were portraying the situation like \u201cplayers are going to kill each other if we don\u2019t send them to Kakul\u201d.
\nThe senior team manager said that there was no truth in the media reports as the players spent a very good and \u201cpleasant time\u201d in Kakul alongside going through training session at the Army School of Physical Training (ASPT) camp.
\nElaborating on reasons behind bringing in Azam as captain, again, Riaz said that Shaheen Shah Afridi is main strike bowler and brand name of Pakistan. The team wants him \u201cfresh\u201d for big tournaments ahead and \u201cfree mind to execute his skills\u201d, he said.
\n\u201cAll players are united and they play for Pakistan,\u201d added Riaz.
\nTo another question, he also termed former PCB chief Ramiz Raja\u2019s comment regarding pacer Mohammad Amir \u201cnegative\u201d.
\nThe famous cricket commentator slammed Amir\u2019s return to the national team who took back his international retirement and opined that tainted cricketers should neither be forgiven and completely expelled from the sport.
\nHe added that every person has right to express his opinion and he would not comment more over Raja\u2019s remarks except calling it very negative.
\nMeanwhile, Riaz said that the PCB announced a squad of 17 players and five have been kept as reserves, which means that they will be relied upon to perform well ahead of finalising the World Cup squad before April 25.
\n\u201cWe will finalise which boys will be part of the World Cup squad from Pakistan before April 25.\u201d
\nCommenting on the return of Babar as captain as well as the lack of a vice-captain in the team, Wahab said: \u201cBabar Azam is the white ball captain. As far as the vice-captain is concerned, discussions are still continuing. We want somebody to stand by Babar. We will look into everything that is beneficial for the betterment of the team and make announcements later.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad Wahab Riaz, a selection committee member and senior Pakistan team manager, responded to a query regarding rifts within the national squad by saying that there was no best choice other than Babar Azam for leading the team as he is most experienced skipper and also a best player in terms of individual statistics. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399666,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-399646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n