Abdul Qadir rails against Razzaq’s exclusion

[Sadaf Gondal]

Abdul Qadir has lashed out on team management for excluding Abdul Razzaq semi-final side.


The hard-hitting all-rounder from Lahore returned to the national team for the T20 series against Australia in United Arab Emirates and for the mega event after a long lay-off.

Abdul Razzaq however, failed to gain the team management’s confidence, who did not include him in the playing-11 for most matches of the illustrious tournament.

The lower middle-order batsman played an important little cameo in the Green Shirts’ last Super 8 encounter against Australia, scoring 22 runs off just 17 balls with help of a couple of fours and a huge six.

However, the 32-year-old cricketer could not find a place in the team for the semi-final, with the captain and the coach showing trust on Sohail Tanvir.

Pakistan lost the match by 16 runs to be knocked out of the tournament and a number of former cricketers believe that Abdul Razzaq, due to his ability to hit the ball hard, should never have been dropped from the side.

While expressing his disappointment at Pakistan’s loss, Abdul Qadir said that being one of the most senior players in the team, the all-rounder did not deserve to be sitting on the bench.

"I don t think Abdul Razzaq has been treated fairly and given the respect he deserves as a senior player with many match-winning performances to his credit," Qadir said.

"There was no way you could go in to the semi-final without Razzaq after the way he performed against Australia. Unfortunately the truth is he has never been treated properly by the team management."

Another former cricketer, Zaheer Abbas, who is known as the ‘Asian Bradman’, slammed Mohammad Hafeez for the irresponsible shot he played to get out.

The former captain thinks that the Green Shirts should have qualified for the tournament’s final.

"The batsmen didn t play according to the situation and pitch conditions. I thought 140 was gettable in the match but the execution was missing, and Hafeez got out at a very crucial tie.

[Unsaid words]

Razzaq ka exclusion waqae questions raise karta hai kafi

[Nida_Ali_Nido]