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Pakistan captain Waqar Younis demanded more say in selections and threatened that he would not play if his views on team compositions were not given due consideration. Waqar, who looked fit and enthusiastic, revealed that he had not been consulted on the selection of 27 probables.

"I would like to have more say in team selections. If the selectors won't listen to me, I will not play," Waqar warned a week after being retained captain until the home series against New Zealand. Waqar's stubborn and apparently inflexible stand clearly conveys the message that no matter what steps the cricket managers take to include Wasim Akram, he would decide the fate of his one-time deadly new ball partner.

In an apparent somersault, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said last week that practice matches would be organized and those not invited to the camp would be considered for selection if they impressed in those matches.

Waqar rested all the blame on the selectors for the omission of former captains Wasim Akram and Moin Khan. "I was told at the last minute about the 27 probables. I can't say if I had pressed for the inclusion of senior players had I been consulted. But I was told late that Wasim had not been invited for the camp," the skipper told reporters at the National Stadium Tuesday.

The paceman said the selectors should be questioned what was the basis of selecting 27 probables for the camp. He, however, said he believes that the selectors wouldn't have considered them good enough to be invited. "I mean the best players are in the camp and the immediate answer to the exclusion of senior players means they might not be good enough. But I am not talking specifically of Wasim or Moin, there were some deserving young boys who have not been called."

When asked if he was satisfied with the probables at his disposal in the background that Mohammad Sami, Shabbir Ahmad and Shoaib Akhtar lack match fitness, Waqar said: "I can't say if I am satisfied because I have not been consulted on these players. "I have been given these boys to prepare for the season but that doesn't mean that they form the nucleus." Waqar said Wasim has never been a "problematic" character for him. "It is insulting for a great cricketer to say that he has been dropped or discarded.

"The simple fact is that when you struggle, you take time off and sort out things," Waqar, who has seen rough times in the recent past, remarked. The toe-crusher, however, later toed the line of the selectors and the administrators when he said the policy of the PCB is to prepare a young team for the 2003 World Cup. He said inviting more youngsters could be in line with that strategy because more players in the camp means lesser opportunity for the youngsters to impress the selectors.

Waqar said he would ensure that there was no inconsistency in selection because he thought it was also one of the reasons for Pakistan's four successive home series losses. "I haven't played much in those series' and was only called in the last games or so, but I will try to end the win drought and see that there were not many changes in the team." Waqar said he was satisfied at being retained captain for the first half of the international season and he was also personally keen to judge his fitness and form on series-by-series basis.

"In the past, a captain has been appointed on a long term basis but has been sacked if his performance drops in two series'. By going on series-by-series basis, the captain can be replaced but not sacked," he said with direct reference to Moin Khan.

Waqar said the entire forthcoming season would be important but the showpiece match would be the Test against India at Lahore from Sept 12 and 16. "It (match against India) will be the most important and showpiece game of the season. I am anxiously looking forward to it."

© Dawn