Rashid Latif names his Pakistan probables for T20 World Cup

Pakistan’s former wicketkeeper-batsman Rashid Latif, in a YouTube video on Monday, named the probable line-up for Pakistan in the upcoming T20 World Cup scheduled to be played in Australia.

The 51-year-old acknowledged that forming a probable line-up, at this time, was a very hard job while listing down the batsmen that he felt deserved a spot.

“This is a very hard question [naming probables for T20 World Cup]. It would depend on the fitness of batsman Sharjeel Khan. There is a possibility that batsmen Sharjeel Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Babar Azam make the top-three. Mohammad Hafeez would be likely to come in next. Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik and youngster Haider Ali deserve a spot as well,” Latif said.

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Latif claimed that former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed deserved to come back into the side after the consistent failures of wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan.

“I would want former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed to be a part of the side because wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan does not seem able to make the side. He could not even make the Karachi Kings side while Sarfaraz has the advantage because of his fitness. Veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal is also a contender but the problem is that he is a top-order batsman. The top-order already seems set with Sharjeel, Fakhar and Babar,” he said.

The former wicketkeeper chose a powerful bowling attack while naming leg-spinner Shadab Khan as the only logical inclusion in the all-rounder department.

“In the fast-bowlers I would go with Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah and Haris Rauf. I would add Mohammad Amir as the fourth pacer. There should be one all-rounder but they have not been performing well recently. When we look at Faheem Ashraf and Amad Butt, no one performed extraordinarily well. Aamer Yamin performed well but again nothing outstanding,” he said.

“The only all-rounder you can go with is a spinner and that is Shadab Khan. If he comes in you would have to change your batting order significantly. We have no idea if Hafeez can bowl or not. He didn’t bowl a lot for his franchise in the PSL 5. There is no doubt that Imad Wasim slots in as the spinner,” he added.

It must be noted that there is uncertainty over this year’s T20 World Cup because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which has brought cricketing activities around the globe to a halt.