Akmal part of panel that would decide his fate

Karachi:

In an interesting turn of events, under-fire Pakistan stumper Kamran Akmal finds himself as part of the tour selection committee which will decide if he should be playing in the Hobart Test against Australia that starts from Wednesday.

A source in the Pakistan Cricket Board said the committee, which includes vice captain Akmal, was facing a sticky situation since the general opinion was that Akmal, after his horrifying performance in the second Test in Sydney, should be dropped for the third Test.

"But the problem is that Kamran himself is part of the tour selection committee," the source said.

He said it was because of this very situation that former captain Younus Khan had last year insisted on having only the captain, coach and the chief selector as tour selection committee members.

"Younus had faced similar problems when Misbah-ul-Haq was vice captain and it became difficult to drop him," the source explained.

He also pointed out that Younus had also got the cricket board to remove the tour manager as a member of the committee to avoid politics and groupings in the team.

PCB, apparently aware of this strange situation, has now nominated manager Abdul Raquib in the tour selection committee.

"Raquib has been told he will also function as a tour selector now for remaining part of the tour," sources in the board said.

"He is now in touch with the national selection committee in Pakistan over the possible eleven for the Hobart Test," the source said.

Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf has told Pakistani reporters in Australia that the team for the Hobart Test and any decision on whether to drop Akmal or not would be taken after talking to chief selector Iqbal Qasim.