‘Babar Azam, Hasan Ali struggled for opportunities at junior level’

Former Pakistan cricketer Haroon Rashid has revealed that current skipper Babar Azam and pacer Hasan Ali didn’t get chances at junior level due to poor domestic cricket structure.

While talking to Cricket Pakistan in an exclusive interview, Rashid, former director of domestic cricket, said that he ensured that Babar and Hasan went on to play for another regional side.  

“Our domestic structure had so many issues that even players like Babar Azam did not get chances to play for Lahore and Hasan Ali for Sialkot in junior cricket. When I saw that, I ensured that they got a chance to play for Islamabad. You can confirm this with Shakil Sheikh, who was the incharge of things at that time,” said Rashid.

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Rashid was also unimpressed with Pakistan’s preparations for the T20 World Cup in India, later this year.

“The problem I see at the moment is that the nucleus, 15-20 players, for the World Cup has not been formed. The team management, selection committee and captain should be on the same page, especially considering that there are only a handful of matches left before the World Cup. For instance, Asif Ali plays one match and then he is dropped. Also, we are not sure about how to use Sharjeel Khan and there are also concerns about his fitness,” he said.

It must be noted that Haroon had also served the PCB in various roles including chief selector, Pakistan senior and junior national teams’ coach and manager, head of youth game development and acting head of the National Cricket Academy.