Pakistan’s Men’s team’s chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq has backed the selection decisions taken for the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and the 2023 Asia Cup as well. While the former Pakistan captain has announced a strong squad, a notable exclusion was Shan Masood in the strong 18-man squad as well. Meanwhile, left-arm pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi has returned to the squad and will look to carry forward his form for the Welsh Fire for the national team as well.

Speaking on Masood’s omission, Inzamam explained the decision. As quoted by ESPN Cricinfo, he stated: “Shan has performed very well on the whole across formats. Unfortunately, his performances in ODIs have gone down. We have a list of 20-21 players, and Shan is part of that. But Saud Shakeel and a couple of other players were impressive recently, so we had to leave out Shan. But he is a part of our plans.”

The veteran shared that Faheem Ashraf has been selected as the team wants to build him as a capable all-rounder for the 2023 World Cup as well. He also opined on working on the cricketing structure moving forward. However, Pakistan’s ODI series against Afghanistan will begin on August 22 in Hambantota, Sri Lanka as well.

READ MORE: Harbhajan Singh says Australia have the upperhand in the WTC final

He explained: “Preference has been given to Faheem Ashraf, since the squad doesn’t have another fast-bowling allrounder. If you look at PSL and other tournaments, he was in good form. And we need an allrounder, he is a fast-bowling allrounder, which we need at the World Cup.”

“I’ve only joined recently, so I’ll keep an eye out on the entire first-class structure. I only took charge on Monday, so a lot of things were already in motion. We’ll create a setup as things go and fine-tune our processes further. The players we’ve selected have performed in first-class cricket and elsewhere, and that’s why they were rewarded. Sometime you create a 20- or 22-man squad, but sometimes you may need someone from outside that pool if someone’s in great form or if the team needs changes,” Inzamam-ul-Haq concluded.

READ MORE: Sanjay Manjrekar dissects Virat Kohli’s poor show in WTC Final

Pakistan’s ODI Squad for Afghanistan series and Asia Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim.