New Delhi: Pakistan's decision to exclude opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad comes as a surprise given the Asia Cup and ICC World Twenty20 on the cards where his experience would have counted.
Pakistan named their 15-man squad on Wednesday for the two coveted tourneys and cited that the exclusion of Shezad was due to lack of consistency in form. Interestingly, only 15 players are allowed to be named in a squad and therefore several big players often miss the cut.
Even England dropped experienced Stuart Broad to suggest certain teams are not just banking on experience and prefer youngsters in their place. Uncapped players have been named by several sides to highlight the trend.
Later on the day South Africa dropped Morne Morkel from the squad to add to the list of surprises.
Certain key players from various nations will feel hard done by their omission.
The ICC World Twenty20 is going to start from March 8 in India and majority of teams have named their squads.
Here is a look at some of the big names to miss out from cricket's top nations.
Pakistan: Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Gul, Sohaib Maqsood
India: Manish Pandey, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Robin Uthappa
England: Chris Woakes, Stuart Broad, James Taylor, Kevin Pietersen
Australia: Shaun Marsh, Kane Richardson, Nathan Lyon
West Indies: Carlos Brathwaite, Kemar Roach
Bangladesh: Rubel Hossain, Imrul Kayes
New Zealand: None
South Africa: Morne Morkel, Albie Morkel.
Sri Lanka is yet to announce their 15-man squad amongst the two other top teams.