Rumour: Rafique out from the Champions Trophy

[fwullah]

The rumour (from Bangladesher Khela) is that one part of the selection panel wants Mohammad Rafique to be dropped from the ICC Champions Trophy, and instead they want Abdur Razzak to be in the 14-member team, citing Razzak's good performance in the Asia Cup and Rafique's average performance.

Another part of the selection panel wants the veteran EXPERIENCED Mohammad Rafique to be in the team.

What do you say?

My thoughts are following:

If we want to beat West Indies (South Africa are far too professional a side to be beaten by us), we need the experience of Rafique. On the other hand, Rafique is getting old - 34/35 years of age, so we should look for new and upcoming spinners. Besides, Rafique has been bowling a lot better in Test match cricket than in the One-Dayers. Rafique has a Test Match Hundred, however, his batting has not won us any game in ODIs for a long-long time.

Another fact is that England's pitches are very seamer-friendly, and not too spin-friendly, so its rather the seamers and the pacers that will affect a win or a loss of the team, doesn't matter what the spinners do.

Moreover, its the batsman who have to come up with the goods, if our batsman can't do better than what they did in the Asia Cup, then its no use having an experienced spinner in the side. Because, Rafique alone, cannot win us matches in ODIs (i.e., he won't take 5 wickets against either South Africa or West Indies). So, why not think about our future (i.e., Rajjak)?

I guess the balance between picking Rafique and Razzak are hanging in the balance. We do have 4 home series coming up, after this Champions Trophy Tournament. So we'll need Rafique's services as a spinner very much.