LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Tuesday replaced Umar Akmal with Haris Sohail for the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2017 to be held in England and Wales from June 1 and 18. “Chief selector Inzamamaul Haq had called Umar Amin, Asif Zakir and Haris Sohail for a fitness test today at the National Cricket Academy in a bid to determine which player would replace Umar,” said a spokesman for the PCB. “After testing all three players and based on the reports submitted by the trainer, the selection committee decided to select Haris as Umar’s replacement for the tournament,” added the spokesman. Haris is expected to join the squad before the side’s warm-up game against Bangladesh on Saturday. The 27-year-old Umar, known for his chequered disciplinary record, failed two fitness tests after joining the squad in Birmingham last week. He was left out of the limited-over squads for the tour of West Indies in March for being overweight. May 25 is the deadline for changes to squads, apart from replacements for injury reasons. Umar was fined last week for a verbal dispute with fellow player Junaid Khan in the Pakistan Cup held last month. Former Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis termed him a negative influence and recommended he be kept far away from the time following the team’s disastrous 2015 World Cup campaign in Australia. He was also jailed for a day after beating a traffic police official in Lahore five years ago. Haris has not played for Pakistan since the limited-over series against Zimbabwe in Lahore in May 2015, scoring an unbeaten 52 in Pakistan’s win after which he suffered a knee injury which required surgery. That forced Haris to undergo an extensive rehabilitation programme thereafter at NCA and had a surgery in Dubai which reportedly went unsuccessful pushing his career into doubts. The PCB took over his case and sent him to England for yet another rehabilitation programme thus allowing him to make a comeback. The left-handed batsman, who also bowls left-arm spin, has played 22 one-day internationals and four Twenty20 internationals. “I worked really hard for my comeback after battling with the injury for long,” said Haris. “I have kept myself prepared…as a sportsman my aim is to perform and when I got dropped earlier it because of my injury and not because of my performance. So I am sure selectors have taken that into account while shortlisting my name. So all the hard work I have done is paying off.” Pakistan open their Pool B campaign with a high-voltage game against arch-rivals India in Birmingham on June 4. They also play South Africa (in Birmingham on June 7) and Sri Lanka (in Cardiff on June 12). Hosts England, Australia, Bangladesh and New Zealand form Pool A. The top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals.