Former England captain Nasser Hussain has slammed Pakistan’s decision to bring Saim Ayub into the Test team straight from the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), saying the young batter “shouldn’t be here”.Ayub’s return to the Pakistan Test team ended in a nightmare as he was dismissed for a duck in both innings of the third Test against England at Edgbaston. The young opener faced only 11 balls across the two innings, with England pacer Ollie Robinson dismissing him on both occasions.Ayub had arrived in England after playing T20 cricket in the CPL. Hussain questioned why Pakistan chose to bring him into a Test match without enough preparation for the conditions.Speaking on Sky Sports after Pakistan finished Day 2 at 52-2 in their second innings, Hussain said Ayub should not have been picked for the Test.“The truth is he shouldn’t be here. He came from the CPL and hasn’t played first-class cricket in some time,” Hussain said during a post-day show on Sky Sports.Hussain said bringing a player directly from T20 cricket into a Test in England was a poor decision.“I don’t know who thinks it’s the right thing to fly someone over from foreign conditions, playing a completely different format, and think they’re going to be fine in these conditions against a Dukes ball, against Ollie Robinson and England’s bowling attack,” Hussain asserted, explaining why Ayub was destined to fail in these conditions against a team of the calibre of England.
Hussain recalls Sehwag example
Hussain also recalled what happened when India once took a similar approach with Virender Sehwag.Sehwag was flown into England without enough match practice and struggled at the same ground. Hussain said that if even a player of Sehwag’s experience could struggle, Pakistan should not have expected Ayub to immediately succeed.“Virender Sehwag tried it on this ground, if you remember… they flew him in. Virender Sehwag got a pair, and that’s Virender Sehwag, who’s a better, more experienced player than Saim,” highlighted Hussain.Hussain said Ayub must take some responsibility for the shot he played, but he questioned the decision-makers who selected him.“So a bit of responsibility goes to the lad for the shot he played. But also, whoever thought that was a seriously good decision and that he was going to go okay this week?”“It is just a sort of disrespect and disregard for Test match cricket. Test match cricket, as any cricketer will tell you, is the toughest format. Batting at the top of the order in England is the toughest task, and you just feel you can fly someone in from some part of the world and go, Good luck,” he said.
