"Khushdil Shah has an edge over Fakhar Zaman for the middle-order role" - Mohammad Wasim explains the latter's exclusion from Pakistan's World Cup squad

Pakistan chief selector Mohammad Wasim copped a fair bit of criticism over the squad chosen for the T20 World Cup. Amongst all other things, leaving out Fakhar Zaman from the 15-man squad raised plenty of eyebrows.

Though Zaman will travel with the squad as a reserve player, many former cricketers believe he must have been a part of the first-team squad. However, his record in T20Is is mediocre, averaging 21.72 in 53 games with five fifties.

ANNOUNCED – Our squad for the #T20WorldCup, #PAKvNZ and #PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/oVRIwzzmMZ

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) September 6, 2021

But Khushdil Shah has impressed in the last two PSL editions, striking in late 140s. Speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Mohammad Wasim thinks that Shah fits better in the middle-order than Zaman due to more experience.

"The decision about Fakhar Zaman was very tough. Looking at batting in the middle-order, we came to the conclusion that Khushdil Shah has edge over Zaman because he has more experience of playing in that role. Fakhar is still a valuable player for us and that is why he is part of 18-man squad."

Wasim further claimed that all their spin bowlers are more than decent batters including Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Hafeez. Thus, he remains confident of these players balancing the side

"We have four complete spinners in the squad, including Mohammad Hafeez. Even if other teams have picked five spinners, it doesn’t mean all of them will play. A maximum of two or three spinners will play and we are covered in that regard."

"The good thing about our spinners is that they are all good in the batting department and add value to the team. So, it won’t be a difficult decision if the team wants to play an additional spinner instead of a batsman because Imad, Nawaz, Shadab and Mohammad Hafeez all have good batting abilities."

Pakistan have picked spinners Shadab, Hafeez, Nawaz and Wasim - of which Nawaz and Wasim are left-arm spinners. They surprisingly ignored wrist-spinner Usman Qadir, who performed decently in South Africa and England. The men in green will open their campaign against India in Dubai on the 24th of October.

Shadab will ensure we don't need another leg-spinner: Mohammad Wasim

Shadab Khan. (Image Credits: Getty)

Mohammad Wasim also touched on the idea of opting for only one leggie in Shadab Khan and three off-spinners. Wasim wholly trusts Shadab's experience and feels it would be a non-issue going for three off-spinners.

"We also had a lengthy discussion about having two leg-spinners in the squad but in the end we decided to go with our three best spinners, keeping in mind the conditions, regardless of their type. It is not a big issue if there are two left-arm spinners, instead of an additional leg-spinner. Also, Shadab is experienced now and his presence will ensure that we won’t need another leg-spinner."

Babar Azam and co. will finetune their preparation against New Zealand and England in seven T20Is at home. The Kiwis will play five T20s in Rawalpindi after the three-game ODI series, while England will visit Pakistan a few days before the World Cup.