Pakistan could revamp one-day squad

Iqbal Qasim, Pakistan's chief selector, has said 'major surgery' is required on the country's ODI outfit after they slumped to their fourth straight defeat in the five-match series against Australia. The reverse against the world champions comes on the back of a one-day series loss to New Zealand, and Pakistan have now been defeated in eight of their previous nine matches.

"No one can defend the team's pathetic performance in Australia and obviously a major surgery is the need of the time," Qasim told the Dawn. "But it is not appropriate to initiate the process during a series; so let them get free from the tour."

Qasim said he would analyse with the team management why they fared so poorly in Australia. "The reports from the team manager and coach will be very important," he told the News. "Then we will have to sit down with the captain and listen to his views. That will help us find what really went wrong in Australia."

With the World Cup little more than a year away, Qasim said it was time to start rebuilding. "Preparing for the World Cup is definitely our biggest task and hopefully with a combined effort, we will send a strong team for the tournament," he said.

Qasim was in Lahore for a meeting of a three-man PCB committee, which included the board's chief operating officer Wasim Bari and the director international cricket Zakir Khan, to discuss the new central contracts being offered to Pakistan's top cricketers next week.