Shoaib misses marquee semi-final

da betobet： Shoaib Akhtar may well have played his last match for Pakistan, after hewasn’t picked for the semi-final against India in Mohali

Osman Samiuddin in Mohali30-Mar-2011

Shoaib Akhtar may well have played his last match for Pakistan, after hewasn’t picked for the semi-final against India in Mohali. Despite thecustomary speculation surrounding his participation before each game eversince he announced his international retirement (before the group gameagainst Australia), Pakistan chose an unchanged line-up from thequarter-final win against West Indies in Dhaka. That means Wahab Riazretains his place.The question of Shoaib’s inclusion was the subject of considerablediscussion within the team management in the build-up to the game.Essentially it came down to Shoaib’s fitness to last an entire innings -and multiple spells – but his big-game experience weighed up againstRiaz’s freshness and inexperience, but importantly, the variation heprovides as a left-arm paceman. On Tuesday evening, they opted for thelatter. The team were also keen to stick as much as possible with the same XI throughout the tournament.The issue was confused by comments made by Afridi in the pre-match pressconference, in which he said, “Shoaib is not 100% but he is trying hislevel best. We will decide this evening.” That was widely interpreted tomean that he was carrying an injury or wasn’t fit enough to play thisgame, but it is the line that Pakistan have trotted out throughout thetournament and it relates to his general fitness levels, rather than aspecific injury.Both Afridi and coach Waqar Younis have talked repeatedly of Shoaib notbeing at optimum fitness levels, though he has still played three groupgames, picking up three wickets. Their concerns grew after he struggled tobowl his last over against New Zealand, the 47th of the innings, whichultimately went for 28 runs.Until that over, however, he had bowled well without much luck, knockingover Brendan McCullum in his first over before seeing centurion RossTaylor missed twice in three balls in his second spell. He hasn’t played agame since. Earlier in the tournament, incidentally, when asked about hisfitness, Shoaib said that he had played much of his career not entirelyfit.Sources within the team management admitted the decision to exclude Shoaibhad upset him considerably. He believes he is fit enough to play and thathis experience of big games should have seen him in the line-up. He bowledin the pre-match warm-ups and looked to be running in as he has throughthe last year.The occasion of the match, and missing out on it, will also have upsethim. Shoaib has always enjoyed the rivalry with India, from his EdenGardens introduction in 1998-99 even through the World Cup Centurion gameand he remains one of the most popular Pakistani cricketers in India.