Pakistan cricket team’s chief selector former captain Inzamam-ul-Haq on Friday defended pacer Hasan Ali’s inclusion in the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023 squad.
Notably, Hasan has not played for Pakistan in the in ODIs in over a year.
In the press conference, where he announced the 15-man squad, Inzamam said: “He (Hasan Ali) performed well in the Lankan Premier League; he is an experience bowler.”
“Yes, he has not played international events recently, but he has represented Pakistan in mega international events and performed well in them,” the chief selector said.
Hasan, who began playing for Pakistan in 2016, had last donned the national jersey in the ODI format in June 2022 in Multan. Ali has now replaced injured pacer Naseem Shah, who is set to be out of action for a mong period after sustaining a right shoulder injury which was worse than was initially expected.
Inzamam said that since Naseem was ruled out, Pakistan needed a bowler who could bowl with the new ball.
“He (Ali) bowls well with both old and new ball, and is a team man. His presence lends energy to the team. Naseem was injured, he was our main bowler and it was unfortunate,” Inzamam said.
“Hasnain has an ankle injury and is out injured and so is Ihsanullah,” he added.
The upcoming ICC World Cup 2023 will be played in the round-robin format with all the 10 teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches, starting October 5 in Ahmedabad.
Of the 10 teams, the top four teams advance to the semifinals, which will be played in Mumbai on November 15 and in Kolkata on November 16 repectively and both the games will have reserve days.
Squad
Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafiq, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), M Wasim Jnr, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usama Mir
Reserves
Mohammad Haris, Zaman Khan, Abrar Ahmed