Karachi: The national selectors who are under fire for not showing up for the ongoing National T20 Championship matches, want Test and ODI captain Misbah-ul-Haq to bat at number three position in the 50-over format.
A source aware of the developments said that the six-member selection committee, which is headed by Moin Khan, is contemplating dropping senior batsman Younis Khan for the ODIs.
“But for this they want Misbah to go up to the number three position in the batting line-up. However, so far he [Misbah] has resisted this advice,” the source said.
Younis, 36, remains an automatic selection for the Test side but even after he made his comeback to the ODI team in the recent series against Sri Lanka, the source said majority of the selectors feel he is no longer suited for 50-overs cricket.
“Some selectors have this viewpoint about Younis and also want Misbah to bat at number three,” he added.
Younis had been sidelined for ODIs since March 2013 to until last month when he was picked for the series against Sri Lanka. He played just one match before returning home because of the death of his nephew.
The source said the selectors feel that if Younis is not in the team then Misbah, being the seniormost player, needs to anchor the innings.
“Misbah takes his time to build his innings and only picks up momentum later on so the number three position is ideal for him,” the source said.
Some former greats including Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar and even Imran Khan have advised Misbah to bat at number three.
