Pakistan's chief selector Mohsin Khan believeshat 24-year-old batsman Rameez Raja has an opportunity to shineuring next month's tour of Zimbabwe consisting ofthree one daynternationals, two Twenty20 fixtures and a solitary test match.
In an interview to Pakpassion.net, Khan said: "Rameez is a batsman whoas really caught the eye of all of the selection committee and, heas shown great potential in all formats.
"We felt that the tour of Zimbabwe was the ideal time to give Rameez ahance in international cricket.
He has shown great promise at junior level and in domestic cricket, so now we are saying to him, this is your opportunity to shine on the biggest stage, so show us and theorld what you have," Khan added.
" Rameez is a cricketer who also fields well and this is somethinghat my colleagues in the selection committee and I have reallyocussed upon. Modern day cricket is not just about batting andowling skills, but also about being able to field well and we wanthe players that we bring into the squad to be good fielders too,"han added
Raja is in the 16-man squad selected for the Zimbabwe tour after someashing displays in the recent Faysal Bank Super Eights Twenty overournament for Karachi Dolphins.
Khan feels that Rameez has enough potential to become a regular inll formats.
The selectors have also opted for recalls for bowlers Sohail Tanvir,ohail Khan and opening batsman Imran Farhat. Pace bowlers Wahab Riaznd Umar Gul have been rested for the short tour.
Explaining the thinking behind the squad combination and the choice ofersonnel, Khan said: "Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz have constantly beenlaying in all formats of cricket recently and Umar had a slightnjury problem ahead of the tour of the Caribbean. Wahab has also beenery busy playing a lot of cricket, so we thought that we'd give thesewo regular bowlers a bit of a rest.
It also gives us the opportunity to try out some new boys as I feel that we need some back up in the fast bowling department."
Khan, however,cautioned about treating the tour of Zimbabwe casually.Zimbabwe cannot be taken lightly and our squad was picked with fullespect for the opponents.
There was never any real consideration forending an entirely experimental squad made up of youngsters andlayers with little or no international experience. With internationalricket not returning to Pakistan yet, we seem to have a reducedumber of international fixtures and therefore we have lesspportunity to experiment."
Khan further added that the backup pace bowlers have an idealpportunity to strengthen their case for future selection and that hend his fellow selectors hoped that the fast bowling reserves would ben even better shape after the tour of Zimbabwe.
"Boys like Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir and Aizaz Cheemaow have a good opportunity to show off their talents with some of thexperienced bowlers missing. We are hoping that we will come out ofhis tour in good shape and with our fast bowling reservestrengthened."
Overall, I think it's a well balanced squad, selected on merit and aquad that the chairman (of the PCB) fully supports, said Khan. (ANI)
