Rashid Latif wants Tanvir Ahmed and Imran Farhat to play the second Test

Disappointed at Pakistan’s performance in the first Test of the three-match series against South Africa at Johannesburg, Rashid Latif, the former Test captain, has urged the team management to go for experienced cricketers like Imran Farhat and Tanvir Ahmed in place of Azhar Ali and Rahat Ali.

Before the start of the series, a number of sporting analysts believed that the Green Shirts would give a tough time to the Proteas because of a strong bowling attack. However, Pakistan’s batsmen failed to stand their ground under difficult circumstances and were bowled out for only 49 runs in the first innings, which happens to be the country’s lowest-ever score in a Test innings.

The former wicketkeeper/batsman from Karachi believes that the team management must be blamed for the loss as they picked the wrong playing-11. Latif is of the view that Mohammad Irfan, the lanky pacer, should have been selected in place of Rahat, who failed to make an impression in the match and went wicket-less.

Rashid thinks that Tanvir should be played in the second Test, which begins on February 14, at Cape Town. The pitch at Newlands is expected to help the seamers and the former Pakistan captain has immense faith in the abilities of Tanvir, who has done reasonably well for the Green Shirts in past.

“Some poor decisions were made in the first test. I see no reason of Irfan being benched if he was fit. It was an absurd decision to play Rahat Ali ahead of Tanvir Ahmed. Tanvir Ahmed will be deceptive in Cape Town. He bowls in the perfect channel,” Latif expressed.

Rashid is not happy with the performance of Azhar Ali, the top-order batsman who has looked out of form in recent times, and wants the team management to play Imran Farhat instead, who has recently scored a splendid triple century in first-class cricket, representing Lahore against Peshawar.

“I’d make a couple of changes to the team. I’ll play Farhat and Tanvir for Azhar and Rahat respectively,” the former skipper added. “Azhar is out of touch and can’t negotiate bouncers well. Farhat can bat at no. 3 too.”

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Feb 8 2013. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.