Amidst the controversy of several more players allegedly involved in spot fixing, Pakistan has announced its team for the tour against New Zealand. Kamran Akmal and Danish Kaneria have not been selected for the squad, however Umar
Akmal and Adnan Akmal have been retained in the side. New Zealand raised concerns over the growing controversy revolving around Pakistan cricket which could affect its revenues as the side visits the country.
The spot fixing imbroglio has greatly damaged the credibility of Pakistan cricket, and the latest video footage of Mazhar Majeed claiming that several other players were also involved with him, has proven to be souring for those
who have been patronising the team. Pakistan who have not been able to play international cricket for some time at home have had to roam around like nomads in other countries to play.
The video footage of Mazhar Majeed released by a local Pakistan TV channel, showed Mazhar stating, that he had seven players working with him that included, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Salman
Butt and Imran Farhat. He then went on to explain the reasons for influencing the younger players.
"It's long-term thinking. These boys are going to be around for years and I've got the best boys,” Majeed stated.
Senior players like Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq and Saeed Ajmal did not interest him since they had few years of cricket left in them, while Saeed Ajmal was too religious he said, to be influenced by him.
If Pakistan is still the cricket fan’s cup of tea, then it can be said that with the announcement of the Test squad they have managed to add a lump of sugar to it, by naming Shoaib Akhtar for the Twenty20 squad. This could prove
to be something that New Zealand cricket can use to pin their promotions on.
Afridi will lead the T20 side, while Misbah ul Haq will be retained as the Captain for the Test side.
A separate ODI squad will be announced later.
TWENTY20 (squad): Shahid Afridi (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shahzad, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Fawad Alam, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Shoaib Akhtar, Tanveer Ahmed, Sohail
Tanveer, Wahab Riaz (subject to fitness).
TEST (squad): Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umer, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Tanveer Ahmed, Sohail Tanveer, Wahab Riaz.