Islamabad: Poor team selections are to blame for Pakistan's exit from the Champions Trophy group stage in England, say former internationals Sarfraz Nawaz and Rashid Latif. Nawaz, who helped Pakistan reach the World Cup semi-finals in 1979 and 1983, and Latif, who reached the 1996 World Cup quarterfinals, targeted opening batsman Imran Farhat and batting allrounder Shoaib Malik as the prime culprits for Pakistan's two below-par totals against West Indies and South Africa.
Both batsmen combined for just 12 runs in the matches as Pakistan were bowled out for 170 against West Indies and 167 against the Proteas. With India soundly beating West Indies by eight wickets on Tuesday and eliminating Pakistan from semi-finals contention, Pakistan will have to catch an early flight home, no matter what the outcome is of their last group match against India on Saturday.
Latif said it's time for Pakistan to bring in younger players instead of falling back on the likes of Malik, playing his fifth Champions Trophy, and Farhat, playing his third. "For how long are we going to rely on these players?" Latif asked the Associated Press. "They have been playing for over a decade now and haven't showed any improvement, it's better we should look for fresh faces."
Nawaz wanted to see both players dropped from all Pakistan teams, and also called for Misbah-ul-Haq to be replaced as captain. "All the non-performers should be axed and to me Imran and Malik are the first ones who have to
08:04 PM, Jun 12, 2013
London: Pakistan fine-tuned their preparations for the Champions Trophy with an emphatic six-wicket victory over South Africa at The Oval on Monday. Misbah-ul-Haq's team put South Africa into bat and restricted the Proteas to 202 for 9 before chasing down the target with 4.3 overs remaining thanks to half-centuries from Imran Farhat and Mohammad Hafeez. To make matters worse for South Africa, there was concern over pace bowler Dale Steyn,...
11:21 PM, Jun 03, 2013
Misbah and Farhat shared a superb 153-run stand between them to help Pakistan beat South Africa by 3 wickets and level the series 2-2. ... 
The daily Jang reported that immediately after the massive innings defeat in the third Test Whatmore had chosen to take out his anger on Imran Farhat. ... 
