We have 30 players in mind for World Cup: Chief Selector

Pakistan's chief selector, Haroon Rasheed, has revealed that the selection committee has 30 players in mind for the upcoming World Cup 2023 scheduled in India. 

Rasheed conducted a thorough evaluation of Pakistan's players’ pool and compared it with those of other international teams.

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 "When I was appointed as the chief selector, I immediately assessed our players’ pool and compared it with other international teams. I found out that we have a relatively small pool of players," he said.

"Our upcoming eight ODI matches, five against New Zealand and three against Afghanistan, will provide us with an opportunity to finalize our squad for the upcoming Asia Cup and World Cup 2023," he added.

According to Rasheed, there is no time for experiments in the ODI format, and the team needs to have a perfect squad for the upcoming tournaments. 

"We have 30 players in mind for the World Cup and we are thinking of rotating them because we don't have time for experiments in the ODI format," he said.

The 70-year-old has also disclosed that there are plans to conduct a number of one-day matches featuring the top 30 in order to finalise the squad for the upcoming mega events.

“I’ve already discussed this plan with Babar Azam. I’m just waiting for the announcement of team management and coaches before we could finalise this strategy,” he said in a media interaction last week.

Haroon expresses his confidence in Pakistan's bowling and notes their strong performance in the fifty-over format but also wants the middle-order to be stable in order to play a key role in team's victory.

"If we can stabilize the middle-order, Pakistan has a good chance to win the Asia Cup and World Cup with our strong bowling, because our performances in the fifty-over format for the past year and a half haven’t been bad," he concluded.

ESPNCricinfo has reported the 2023 World Cup will start on October 5 with the final scheduled at the world's largest cricket stadium in Ahmedabad on November 19.