Ahmed Shehzad blames Waqar Younis for ouster from Pakistan team – Firstcricket News, Firstpost

Out of the Pakistan team since 2019, opener Ahmed Shehzad blamed pace legend and former national team coach Waqar Younis for his ouster from the team. The 30-year-old batter, who featured for Pakistan last time in a T20I in October 2019, said he was never allowed to present his case properly when he was dropped from the Pakistan squad.

Younis, who was at the helm of the team on four separate tenures, reportedly requested PCB for dropping Umar Akmal and Shehzad from the team while urging them to play domestic cricket to find form.

Shehzad, in his interview to Cricket Pakistan, expressed his displeasure on Younis approaching PCB directly to drop him off instead of talking to him first face-to-face before taking the call. He felt it was a pre-planned decision to get him out.

“I have not seen the report myself, but a PCB official told me that these remarks have been said regarding me,” said Shehzad. “But I believe that these things should be discussed face-to-face, and I am ready to take on that challenge. Then we will see who is right and who is wrong. Their words hurt my career, especially since I was not allowed to present my case. This was a pre-planned approach, and they wanted to kill two birds with one stone.”

Shehzad, who represented Pak in 151 international games since debut in 2009, further blamed former and senior Pakistan players for not helping out young players go into the team while citing the example of how Virat Kohli flourished under MS Dhoni before becoming the captain. Shehzad felt Pakistan team senior figures do that out of jealousy as they couldn’t digest the growth of a young player.

“I have said this before, and I will say it again, Kohli’s career picked off amazingly because he found MS Dhoni but unfortunately, here in Pakistan, your people cannot stand your success. Our senior players and ex-cricketers cannot digest seeing someone succeed in the cricketing world, which is unfortunate for Pakistan cricket,” said Shehzad.

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