Pakistan's veteran spinner Saeed Ajmal has said that the only reason why wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Haris is in Pakistan's T20 World Cup 2022 squad is because of favouritism as the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja likes him. PCB had officially announced the 15-member squad on Thursday, September 15.
Haris has been included in Pakistan's squad as a reserve player and a second-choice wicketkeeper in the presence of Mohammad Rizwan. Nonetheless, it is to be noted that Haris received a call-up ahead of the experienced campaigner and former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Mohammad Haris is Ramiz Raja's favourite: Saeed Ajmal
"Mohammad Haris is selected because he is Ramiz Raja's choice, he is his favourite. Ramiz Raja likes him, that's why they kept him," Ajmal said on his official YouTube channel.
"If you want to go by performance, Sarfaraz (Ahmed) has been performing well in the (domestic) T20s. You could have kept him in the reserves," he added.
The 21-year-old's selection in the reserves for Pakistan's T20 World Cup 2022 squad indeed comes as a surprise as he he is yet to make his T20I debut. So far, Mohammad Haris has only represented the Men in Green in four One Day Internationals. He couldn't make any impact with the bat and only managed just ten runs with his highest individual score being six.
Moreover, the selectors have been heavily criticized for not addressing the middle-order woes and giving chances to inconsistent performers like Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali despite repeated failures.
The brittle middle-order was completely exposed during the Asia Cup 2022 in the UAE that saw Pakistan being bowled out thrice including the final where they went down to Sri Lanka by 23 runs chasing a total of 171.
As far as their bowling is concerned, the Babar Azam-led side would be hoping that pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi recovers in time ahead of the marquee tournament. A knee injury had ruled him out of the Asia Cup.
Pakistan begin their T20 World Cup campaign against arch-rivals India at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on October 23.
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