Imran favours Umar

Taufiq has been in and out of the senior Pakistan side

Taufiq Umar should be elevated to the senior Pakistan one-day side as soon as possible, according to Imran Khan.

The opener scored a dazzling century as Pakistan A beat India on Thursday.

But it had already been decided he would not feature in the first of two one-day internationals between the two countries, in Karachi and Rawalpindi.

"Had I been the captain I would have put him in the team straight away," Imran told BBC Urdu in an interview. Pakistan lost the first one-day match.

Imran said the player had performed well in the World Cup before disappearing from the team.

He favours India in the one-day matches because of their batting strength, but he takes Pakistan to win the Tests because of their bowling.

"In one-day matches, a strong batting lineup always has better chances," he said.

Imran was impressed with India's performance in Australia.

"No one expected such a good performance from the India side in Australia," he said. "Their morale is very high, and they have enough self-belief and confidence to beat any team in the world."

When Pakistan and India play against each other, he added, the pressure on the players is so high that sometimes they cannot live up to their standards.