Pakistan call-up Irfan as cover for Junaid

The Pakistani selectors and team management again showed their fickleness when they decided to call up left-arm pacer Muhammad Irfan for the one-day series in Sri Lanka.
Irfan was not named in the original Test and ODI squads for the Sri Lankan tour due to fitness issues but today the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said the team management had requested for him to be sent as a cover for left-arm pacer Junaid Khan.
"Irfan is flying to Colombo tomorrow as a cover for Junaid. The team management will decide soon whether to retain Junaid for the ODI series or rest him," a board official said.

Junaid was hit on the head by a bouncer during the Pakistan first innings of the second test and didn't come out to bowl or bat after being taken to hospital for precautionary scans.
Sources said doctors were still unsure whether he should start playing cricket or take more rest from the game.
Irfan, who is nearly 7 inches tall, has not played for Pakistan since appearing in the T20 series against South Africa last year in the UAE when he suffered a hip injury.

The injury has kept him out action at the international level since then but he has played in a few domestic games but the medical panel of the board has been advising him to carry on with a rehabilitation process to attain 100 percent fitness.

Surprisingly the team management didn't deem it fit to retain wicketkeeper, Sarfaraz Ahmed for the one-day series even though he turned out to be Pakistan's best batsman with three half centuries and a century in the two test matches which Sri Lanka.
The outstanding contributions from Sarfaraz at a time when most of the other batsmen struggled in the tests had prompted some former players and critics to advise the team management and selectors to also retain him for the ODI series.
Sarfaraz was only picked for the two tests and was not in the one-day squad in which interestingly the selectors have preferred to persist with part time keeper, Umar Akmal who is primarily a specialist batsman.

The three match one-day series has assumed more importance for Pakistan after they were whitewashed in the two test series leading to strong criticism at home.
The one-day series begins from August 23 and Shahid Afridi, Zulfiqar Babar, Sharjeel Khan, Muhammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood and Fawad Alam have already joined the one-day squad in Colombo.