Younus Khan has welcomed Abdul Razzaq back into international fold, after the latter was banned by the PCB for his ties with the ICL for a period of two years. However, ICL decided to withdraw a list of some players and Razzaq took that route to get back to the main fold and was eligible to play domestic cricket in Pakistan.
The BCCI had allowed amnesty to such players as well, but had a one year cool-off period before they could be eligible to play international cricket. Pakistan seems to have waived that cooling period off. Razzaq had represented his first class side in the domestic T20 competition and finished atop the bowling charts with most number of wickets and with the injuries to Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat hurting Pakistan’s chances, it was only natural that he came back to the squad.
The other Asian country in the line-up, Bangladesh, had crashed out of the tournament in the first round after losing to both, Ireland and India and the chief selector, Rafiqul Alam, has been criticized for some selection blunders. His decision to select Raqibul Hasan had been criticised by the media before the team had left for the tournament, and with their ouster, the calls have become louder.
However, the chief selector defended his decision by saying that Hasan was one of the best batsmen they had in the country and they had no option but to pick him up.
Yet, he admitted that the team had played very poorly and deserved the criticism that had been meted out to them.
Bangladesh next tour West Indies for two test matches, three ODIs and a solitary T20I.