The outsider

He8217;s an angry man seeking reasons for his exclusion from the Pakistan team. Problem is, Azhar Mahmood isn8217;t getting any. 8216;1...

He8217;s an angry man seeking reasons for his exclusion from the Pakistan team. Problem is, Azhar Mahmood isn8217;t getting any. 8216;8216;Whom do I ask? The selectors and the team management are passing the buck. I do not know why I8217;m out. If someone can tell me why, I8217;ll stop asking questions.8217;8217;

The right-handed seam bowling all-rounder last played for Pakistan on the New Zealand tour and has since not featured in any of probable squads. 8216;8216;None of the three factors that usually hinder selection 8212; fitness, performance and behaviour 8212; fit my case8217;8217;, he says. 8216;8216;You can check up with the team management if I ever created any problems. I work well in the team.8217;8217;

Everything started going wrong for the talented all-rounder following an injury he sustained in 1999 that hindered his fitness. Two years later, he played his last Test till date, on the England tour in 2001. Since then, he says, 8216;8216;everyone blames my fitness8217;8217;.

Azhar is honest enough to admit that a return to the Test side is tough. 8216;8216;But there are spots in the one-day team. Earlier we used to play four all-rounders Afridi, Wasimbhai, Razzaq and me. Why can8217;t we do the same now?8217;8217;

The result of the exclusion has led to frustration building up in him. 8216;8216;After every two tours they drop me, without any reason. Take last year8217;s World Cup: I was dropped in that mass chopping without even playing a match. What was my fault, the only match I was supposed to play was washed out.8217;8217;

Azhar blames the lack of a policy of the Pakistani selectors for the total confusion that has set in in the system. 8216;8216;They don8217;t know what they are doing, there8217;s no stability. If there is one bad series with younger players, they bring back the seniors as they did against South Africa. And then suddenly everybody is gone. There is so much insecurity among the players because of all this. You sometimes carry a player without performance and on some other occasions drop another without a fair run.8217;8217;

Mahmood has a batting average of 30 in Test match cricket and almost came close to being appointed Pakistan captain in 2000 for a Singapore tournament. 8216;8216;In Pakistan no one can ever digest the fact that a junior can become a skipper. That8217;s the reason Younis Khan has been out of the side. Look at Saqlain too, there is no self confidence in him. How can you drop a player like after just one Test?8217;8217;

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Before the current India series, Azhar says, the selectors asked him to play the Quaid-E-Azam trophy 8212; but chose the team without considering his domestic performance. 8216;8216;On the first day of match they announced the one-day team but never bothered to look at me. I bowled a 12-over spell and even Wasim Bari saw me bowling that.8217;8217;

You8217;d expect Azhar to harbour some resentment against those who are keeping him out of the side but there is none. He completely backs his former all-rounder partner Abdul Razzaq and recalls WC1999 when they backed up Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram wonderfully. 8216;8216;Razzaq is an absolute asset for any team. Among the other all-rounders too Shoaib Malik is cut for one-dayers, but I feel sorry for Rana Naveed Ul Hassan, who bowled one bad over and is out of the team.8217;8217;

Azhar is now getting ready for his second season with Surrey after refusing a stint with a South African province 8216;8216;because of national duty8217;8217;. It8217;s a moot point, he realises, whether he will be called up to fulfil that duty.