Sohail Tanvir: Being in and out of the team does take a mental toll on any player

After the highs of a superlative performance by Pakistan in Test matches in England, the attention has now shifted to the limited-over formats, where the news for the visitors is not good so far. The ODI series has been lost but more than the margin of loss is the manner of capitulation which has dismayed the Pakistan followers the most. The last game of the tour, a T20I match at Old Trafford thus represents a final opportunity for Pakistan to repair their reputation in the shorter formats of the game. Whilst the ODI ranking has continued on a downward spiral, Pakistan’s T20I ranking has also not fared any better as they are precariously perched at the seventh position and it is due to this that the selection of the Twenty20 squad for the one-off game in England on the 7th of September has generated a lot of interest. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: Pakistan vs England 2016, One-off T20I at Old Trafford

Amongst the players named in the squad for this game is the 31-year-old all-rounder Sohail Tanvir. Having played two Test matches and 62 ODIs with varying degrees of success, the left-hander’s participation in the national team has been largely limited to the Twenty20 format where he has taken 47 wickets in 50 matches.

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In exclusive remarks to PakPassion.net, Sohail Tanvir spoke about his feelings on being recalled once again to the national squad, his performance so far in the National Twenty20 Cup, the qualities needed for bowlers to succeed in the limited-overs format and looked forward to the upcoming game against England. Irfan ruled out; Hasan Ali named replacement for one-off T20I

Sohail last played for the national team in a Twenty20 game against England in the November of 2015. Despite being the fourth-highest wicket-taker in the Twenty20 format for Pakistan behind Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul, he was later discarded for tours of New Zealand, the Asia Cup and the World T20 in India.

On being selected for the One-off T20I against England: “I am obviously overjoyed with another opportunity to represent Pakistan but I do wonder why I was side-lined in the first place. Being in and out of the team does take a mental toll on any player and it becomes that more difficult to establish a place for oneself in the team if this happens a lot. But thankfully I have never given up and continued working hard as I did in the Caribbean Premier League where I was the second highest wicket-taker with twenty wickets and had the best economy rate in the tournament as well. As always, it is an honour to serve Pakistan and I am looking forward to the game in England and hoping for the best.” Shehzad flies back home following T20I squad snub vs ENG

On his inconsistency: “All one can do is give it their best shot whenever the chances are given but just like other players, I have good and bad games and my performances can suffer once in a while but what I need to do now is to concentrate and avail the chance given to me again. Obviously knowing that you can be dropped for one bad performance whilst others in a similar position can continue playing is distressing but once again, I will say that I am determined to do well in whatever chances I am given to play for Pakistan.”

On the challenge of playing in England in T20Is: “Our ODI team has not performed to expectations in the recent past but our Twenty20 team does have a decent track record and the right components to make it to the top. All that is needed for us is to deliver winning performances and I am confident that with close to ten years of international experience and almost two hundred and eighty Twenty20 games under my belt, I am in a good position to play my part and bring us back on the winning track in this format.”

Speaking on Pakistan’s consistency with their gameplay: “The game may have moved on but the basics will never change. This may not be true in Twenty20 games where the batsmen will take their chances even against good bowling but is definitely a fact for ODI games. Any bowler should be able to bowl Yorkers and have variety in their bowling if they are to succeed in the modern day game. What has changed is that the pitches are flatter in nature regardless of where you play in the world and rules are in favour of batsmen, so bowling analysis of bowlers need to be looked at differently. For example, a bowler ending up with fifty runs in ten overs would have been criticized in the past but in today’s game, these may well be good figures. The mindset for 50-over games needs to change as batsmen for the teams now need to be able to score those big runs instead of expecting their bowlers to be able to contain opposing sides to low totals.”

On his confidence to perform against England in T20Is: “I am bowling with good rhythm in this tournament and have put in some decent performances which really is a continuation of how I bowled in the Caribbean, and I do hope to carry the same form into international cricket for Pakistan”, he concluded.