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Asif asks three senior players to request for “rest”

According to Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) secretary Asif, Pakistan captain Zeeshan Ashraf, Waseem Ahmad and Akhtar Ali have requested him that they want to skip the forthcoming event.

Sources, however, told Dawn.com that the three players along with Rehan Butt and Sohail Abbas were asked by Asif to take rest, suggesting they should make a request to the PHF that they were interested in playing only at major events.

While Waseem, Zeeshan and Akhtar, agreed, Sohail and Rehan have opted to join the Azlan Shah Cup training camp. Initially, even Rehan was reluctant to join the camp on the instructions of Asif, but later changed his mind when Sohail took a firm decision to report for training against the wishes of the PHF secretary.

In the present Pakistan hockey scenario, the claims by the PHF that players have requested for rest are obviously illogical since all the players including the seniors are willing to prove their mettle to be included in important assignments – Commonwealth Games and Asian Games later this year.

Sources say as PHF had apprehensions that some senior players including Waseem, Zeeshan and Akhtar might be dropped when the selection committee announces the squad for Azlan Shah Cup, it decided to ask the seniors to request for “rest.”

The PHF has asked the players to skip the camp because the top national players who have star status would have created a storm against Asif in case of being axed for Azlan Shah Cup. In the backdrop of a campaign by Olympians against Asif after Pakistan’s 12th place finish at World Cup, the decision of asking the senior players was the only option available to avoid more animosity and hostility.

Chief selector Hanif Khan, however, opted to remain tight-lipped on players’ decision, saying he cannot comment on the future of the three players who had opted to stay away from the camp.

“At the moment, I cannot say anything about the three players. I can’t say they will or will not be in the future squads. I am focused on Azlan Shah Cup right now and will think about future assignments when the time comes,” said Hanif.

The present circumstances, however, suggest some more theories. As now at least three experienced players are out of probables’ list, PHF might take a new-look squad to Ipoh, Malaysia, for Azlan Shah Cup. If the team performs miserably as it is being expected, then the PHF would have a perfect pretext that it is owing to absence of some senior players. But if the team fares well because of some reason, the PHF would once again have a reason to give the three seniors “permanent rest.”

Pakistan hockey manager-cum-coach Khwaja Junaid says the players must have taken the right decision considering their physical fitness and fatigue.

“I believe their decision is absolutely right as they must have considered the state of their bodies. They are better judges of their physical fitness. They can better tell whether they are really fatigued,” Junaid told Dawn.com on Thursday.

However, the coach said the three players had plenty of hockey and a bright future ahead.

“I think they are very good players and they must play hockey in future as they still can play international hockey and perform well if they want,” he said.

Nevertheless, PHF might have averted a revolt by some senior players by asking them to take rest; it still has the thorny issue of captaincy to face. As both Rehan and Sohail are now in the camp, they will be in contention for the captaincy in absence of Zeeshan. Traditionally speaking, if both make it to the final squad, then being most senior, Sohail should be an automatic choice for the captaincy, although Rehan is believed to have all out support from Asif.

According to Junaid, except three all the camp trainees including Rehan and Sohail have reported. The three players Shakeel Abbasi, Muhammad Irfan and Zaheer Ahmad, will report either late Thursday night or Friday morning.

The Azlan Shah Cup training camp starts from Friday at Hockey Club of Pakistan, while the selection committee is likely to announce the squad on April 28.