Pakistan cricket’s chief selector Moin Khan and his panel are once again under the scanner after being accused of ignoring deserving players while closing in on the probables for emerging players trials in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

The inclusion of Shezar Mohammad, son of national selector and former Test batsman, Shoaib Mohammad, for the trials to be held here on June 23, has raised eyebrows.

A former Test player pointed out that while Moin and company had overlooked several players who scored heavily or took wickets in the last domestic season, they opted for Shezar despite a batting average of 19 in 22 first-class matches and 20 in list A games.

“He has been selected just because he is the son of Shoaib Muhammad who is on the selection committee and just because he scored one hundred in January. His wicketkeeping has also been average for the PIA team whose manager is also his father,” the former player told PTI.

Not only Shezar, the selection of some other players has also raised questions. “What is ironic is that both the leading scorers of the two first-class events held last domestic season have not been called for the emerging players trials,” he said.

Israrullah top-scored with 875 runs for Peshawar in the regional Quaid-e-Azam Trophy while Naeemuddin made 808 runs at 57 for Sui Northern Gas in the Presidents Cup.

Naeemuddin also scored a hundred and 70 in the final that SNGP won against United Bank under the captaincy of Misbah-ul-Haq.

Interestingly, the selectors have also ignored leading wicket-takers like pacers Imran Khan, who was the second best bowler in the President’s Cup with 52 wickets and Nasir Malik, who took 65 wickets in the Quaid Trophy.

Moin also faced criticism for being on a committee that demoted former captain and senior batsman Younis Khan to category B in the new central contracts.

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