PCB shields Shehzad's T20 exclusion

Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board has made it clear that young opener, Ahmed Shehzad, was not dropped from the national T20 team for the matches against Australia and the T20 World Cup in Sri Lanka due to any disciplinary reason.

"There is no disciplinary issue with Shehzad's selection.

Neither has the national team manager, Naved Cheema lodged any report against him," a board official said.

PCB has made it clear that, Shehzad, was not dropped from the T20 team due to any disciplinary reason.

Rumours have abounded about the reasons for Shehzad's exclusion for the coming series after he was recalled to the national T20 squad for the Sri Lanka tour after a string of impressive performances in domestic cricket and the Bangladesh Premier League.

The board official said that the decision to select the squad was with the national selection committee, which also consulted the captain and coach.

"Shehzad has been dropped purely for cricketing reasons as the selectors felt that Imran Nazir deserved a chance to make a comeback after his recent performances," the official said.

A source in the board however confirmed that Shehzad's exclusion only came about on the insistence of T20 captain, Mohammad Hafeez, who showed more faith in the selection of Nazir.

"It was on Hafeez's insistence that the selectors agreed to include Nazir instead of Shehzad as Nasir Jamshed was a automatic choice of both the selectors and the team management," the source said.

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