LAHORE: Pakistan men’s national selector Akib Javed has clarified the reason behind Shaheen Shah Afridi’s omission from the Test squad, insisting that the decision was based on conditions and format-specific planning rather than reflecting the left-arm pacer’s potential.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced the squads for the upcoming Test tours of West Indies and England, which did not include Shaheen.
Speaking to the media following the team announcement, Aqib stressed that the national selection committee evaluates players based on the tour and that no selection result should be considered as determining a player’s long-term future.
“You pick from tour to tour, no selector or individual can decide someone’s career or future,” Akib said.
He explained that the decision was influenced by the conditions expected during the two overseas assignments as the selectors believed the team needed more pace following the recent Test series in Pakistan.
“After the last Test series, we felt we needed more momentum and that’s why this team has been selected for the West Indies and England tours,” he said.
The 53-year-old rejected the idea that a player’s inclusion or exclusion should be considered permanent, with the competition for places remaining open.
“Dismissed players will also have to work again to get their place. As these bowlers have been selected now, we cannot guarantee that they will continue to play for the next five years. It all depends on the conditions,” he added.
Despite Shaheen’s omission, the former fast bowler reaffirmed the fast bowler’s status in Pakistan cricket, describing him as one of the country’s leading pacers.
He also suggested that workload management and design priorities play an important role in selection decisions.
According to Aqib, the players will have to decide which format to prioritize, while the PCB’s recently introduced format-based central contracts are designed to encourage greater commitment to specific formats and help players produce better performances for Pakistan.
“Shaheen is a great bowler. Sometimes, you have to evaluate which form of cricket you want to focus on and where your passion lies,” explained Aqib.
“To address all these aspects, we have recently introduced central contracts based on different formats. If a player is not focused enough on a particular format, we will try to encourage them to increase their focus so that they can give Pakistan a better performance,” he concluded.