Senior Pakistan players Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal do not feature in a list of 36 players selected for a month-long training camp to be held at Gaddafi Stadium, lahore starting May 6.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) though has included a number of out-of-favour players like Nasir Jamshed, Yasir Hameed, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umar, Faisal Iqbal and Muhammad Sami in an effort to build a better team for the 2015 World Cup.
The new selection committee headed by former skipper Moin Khan and member Muhammad Akram, who is also head coach at the national cricket academy, said at a press conference here that the idea was to test the fitness of these players. "Our first priority is to put these players through a 15-days fitness program and give them targets to meet. From now on any player who does not meet our standard fitness requirement will not be considered for selection," Moin said.
Moin, 42, also said that another camp would be held after the month of Ramazan to test out the junior players. "We have some tough series coming up in coming months and the biggest problem confronting the Pakistani players is fitness and improving mental strength. They are not short on natural talent," he said.
captaincy issue discussed
The captaincy issue of Pakistan cricket team was on Tuesday re-ignited with Moin conceding for the first time that discussions were held whether to change the skipper or not.
Moin, however, made it clear that until now no decision has been taken on the captaincy issue.
The former wicketkeeper-batsman was responding to a question on whether there were plans to appoint a new captain despite the presence of Misbah-ul-Haq who has been Test skipper since 2010 and has also led the ODI side since 2011.
Speculation has been rife that Moin, Zaheer Abbas, who is now principal advisor to the PCB chairman, and some others were keen on bringing back flamboyant all-rounder Shahid Afridi as captain of the ODI side.
Muhammad Hafeez also stepped down as captain of the national Twenty20 side after the World T20 in Bangladesh and the Board was also searching for his replacement.
"Yes there have been discussions held on a change in the captaincy among the Board's think tank but nothing is final as yet. And most importantly whenever a decision is taken obviously the opinion of the new head coach will matter a lot and Misbah would also be taken into confidence," Moin said.