The chief selector of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) selection committee, Mohsin Khan believes that young batsman Rameez Raja Junior has a chance to shine during next month’s tour of Zimbabwe where Pakistan will play a Test which, three one-dayers and a Twenty20 international.

“Rameez is a batsman who is really caught the eye of all of the selection committee and, he has shown great potential in all formats,” Mohsin said while speaking to a leading Pakistani website on Saturday.

“We felt that the tour of Zimbabwe was the ideal time to give Rameez a chance in international cricket,” he added.

Raja was the top-scorer in the recent Faisal Bank Super Eight Twenty20 Cup. He scored 238 runs from five games at strike-rate of 159.73 with two half-centuries.

He was also the most runs-gainer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Division-One, during which he made 801 runs from eleven matches, counting two hundreds and five fifties after which State Bank instantly snatched him to represent them in the next edition.

Raja shown great promise at junior level: Mohsin

“He has shown great promise at junior level and in domestic cricket, so now we are saying to him, this is your opportunity to shine on the biggest stage, so show us and theorld what you have,” said Mohsin.

Not only with bat, Raja astonished the spectators on many occasions by taking some unbelievable catches and stopping coast boundaries during his fielding in his domestic career. And Mohsin deems that Rameez has enough potential to become a regular in all formats.

“Rameez is a cricketer who also fields well and this is some thing hat my colleagues in the selection committee and I have really focused upon. Modern day cricket is not just about batting and bowling skills, but also about being able to field well and we wan the players that we bring into the squad to be good fielders too, ” added Mohsin.

Fast bowlers Wahab Riaz, Umar Gul and spinner Abdul Rehman have been given the rest for the short tour.

Opener Imran Farhat have came back into national team after an year. Left-arm fast bowler Sohail Tanveer, batsman Adnan Akmal and wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman also returned to squad while alongside Raja, two other uncapped players Yasir Shah and fast bowler Aizaz Cheema also got success in making the room.

Mohsin says, Gul had a slight injury problem

Clarifying the philosophy behind the combination of squad, Mohsin said:

“Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz have constantly been laying in all formats of cricket recently and Umar had a slight injury problem ahead of the tour of the Caribbean. Wahab has also been very busy playing a lot of cricket, so we thought that we’d give the two regular bowlers a bit of a rest.”

“It also gives us the opportunity to try out some new boys as I feel that we need some back up in the fast bowling department.”

“Boys like Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir and Aziz Cheema have a good opportunity to show off their talents with some of the experienced bowlers missing. We are hoping that we will come out of his tour in good shape and with our fast bowling reserve strengthened.”

The chief selector further admitted that any team could not be taken lightly on their on backyard and the squad selected is the best possible.

For the tour, conditional camp will began from August 15 in Lahore. The selected 16 members will report in National Cricket Academy on August 14 after which the regular training session will held under the supervision of Coach Waqar Younis.

The team will depart for Harare on August 28.