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The newly appointed manager of Pakistan team alleged that some senior players chose to stay home rather than face Australia in the three-Test series possibly fearing failures against world's best cricket playing nation.

Brig Khawaja Mohammad Nasir told Dawn Thursday that Saeed Anwar and Wasim Akram had preferred to take rest instead of facing the Australians.

"Saeed should have great confidence in God and he must face the Australians," Nasir declared.

He said that it was not a good ploy to throw the youngsters to face world champions. But he vowed that he would tryhis level best to get maximum results from the lads. And added that he would prepare the young Pakistan team with the spirit of slogan "Go, fight and win".

The manager said that God had given youngsters a golden chance to show their guts and cement a permanent place inthe team.

Imran Farhat, Faisal Iqbal, Hasan Raza, Taufiq Umar, Mohammad Zahid and the uncapped Naveed-ul-Hasan are the new players included in the team after Saeed, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Akram and Yousuf Youhana ruled themselves out of the series.

Nasir said that the team would not suffer much due to absence of Wasim. He said that in fact the batting line of the Pakistan team was weakened to a large extent in the absence of Inzamam, Youhana and Saeed.

"The bowling is still potent with the likes of Shoaib Akhtar, Waqar Younis, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mohammad Zahid in the team," he said.

Nasir said that as he had majority of inexperienced players so now he was not under any kind of pressure of being defeated.

"With an experienced side, everyone expects the team to win, but now the nation expects only a fight from these youngsters," he said.

Meanwhile, Sikander Bakht, who was reappointed as an analyst, will depart for Colombo Friday.

© Dawn