Faheem Ashraf in, Shan Masood out: Inzamam explains his choices

Inzamam-ul-Haq, the head of the national men’s selection committee, on Wednesday announced squads for the ACC Men's Asia Cup and the three-match One-Day International series against Afghanistan.

Inzamam emphasized that the inclusion of Faheem Ashraf in the squad was motivated by the absence of another fast-bowling allrounder. 

"Preference has been given to Faheem Ashraf, since the squad doesn't have another fast-bowling allrounder," Inzamam said. "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."

Turning his attention to Shan Masood, Inzamam acknowledged Shan's commendable performances across different formats. However, he pointed out that Shan's performance in ODIs had experienced a decline. 

"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," he said.

Looking ahead to the World Cup scheduled to begin in India on October 5, Inzamam conveyed that the selection process would not be confined to the current squad announcement. He added that circumstances might necessitate bringing in someone from outside that pool.

"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. We are not restricting ourselves to these 17 or 18 players; anyone who performs can come into the side," he concluded.