Dropped Tanvir says he is fit to play in World Cup

Karachi, Feb 10 (PTI) He has been dropped from Pakistan''sWorld Cup squad due to injury but pacer Sohail Tanvir insistshe is fit to play and should have been retained in the sidefor the quadrennial event starting February 19 in thesub-continent.

The Pakistan cricket Board yesterday dropped theunorthodox bowler from the 15-member squad on therecommendations of the national team management, a medicalpanel and the selection committee and replaced him with rookieleft arm pacer Junaid Khan.

Tanvir, who has so far claimed 48 wickets in 36 ODIs,said, "I don''t know why they dropped me and the selectorsshould tell me the reason because I was fit and getting betterin bowling and fielding.

"It is hugely disappointing to be dropped from a majorevent like the World Cup at the last moment," Tanvir told TheExpress.

Tanvir was dropped after playing in five of the sixone-day internationals in New Zealand.

Justifying its decision to omit Tanvir, the PCB said themedical panel had examined the 26-year-old bowler and decidedhe was not 100 percent fit to play at the top level.

"He still requires time to make a complete recovery fromhis knee problem for which he had an operation sometime back,"PCB said in a statement.

Chief selector, Mohsin Khan said that it was on therecommendations of the team management that the pacer wasdropped from the squad.

"The team management spoke to the board Chairmanexpressing its concerns over Tanvir''s fitness. Subsequentlythe medical panel examined him and declared he was not fullyfit.

"The team management felt that Tanvir was strugglingwhile fielding because of his knee problem.

"Junaid Khan was called up because of his fineperformances in domestic cricket," Mohsin revealed.

Meanwhile former test batsman, Basit Ali cautioned thatJunaid was too raw and not ready for the internationalcricket.

"It would have been better if they had included MuhammadYousuf in place of Tanvir. They already have too many pacersin the side and on the pitches in India, Sri Lanka andBangladesh you don''t need so many pacers," Basit said. PTICORR SNK PM