Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan cricket selectors, led by former Test skipper Inzamamul Haq, on Friday overlooked in-form batsmen Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal in a 15-man squad named for a five-match ODI series in Australia, keeping faith in the same set of players who went down 2-0 in the Tests against Australia.

Pakistan will play five ODI matches in the series from January 13, 2017 to January 26, 2017. Yasir Shah and Sohail Khan have been dropped from the line-up while all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez also could not find a berth in the outfit. Yasir’s exclusion means Pakistan have only two frontline spinners in the 15-member squad – Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz. Giant paceman Mohammad Irfan returns to the squad after being sent home mid-way from the England one-day series following fitness problems. Azhar Ali, who hit a double-century in the second Test, will lead the one-day side.

A day before the first Test against Australia, PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said the board had lost trust in Azhar’s leadership skills. Azhar responded with 324 runs in his next four innings, including an unbeaten 205 at the MCG. Azhar had reportedly refused to relinquish the captaincy after the PCB asked him to step down and focus on his batting following the 4-1 series defeat in England. Azhar has had a tough 19 months since he was appointed ODI captain in March 2015, soon after the World Cup. During his tenure, Pakistan had slipped to ninth place on the ICC rankings, with 86 points, their lowest tally since the points system was introduced in 2001.

The selection has been made after consultation with the team’s head coach and the ODI captain. “The ODI team has been selected keeping the conditions in Australia in mind and the performances of players in the recent ODI series against West Indies and in domestic cricket,” maintained Inzamam. “The team is a fine blend of experience and youth and the selectors have stuck to the same combination of players that played against West Indies earlier. We believe that team will do well in the tour,” he added. The first one-day will be played on January 13 at Brisbane followed by matches in Melbourne (January 15), Perth (January 19), Sydney (January 22) and Adelaide (January 26).

While talking to media pacer Irfan said: “I am really thankful to the selectors and the management who have shown their trust by including me in the team.” Talking about his fitness, Irfan said that he had been playing domestic first-class cricket in long-form and ODI format, so he was in full form and would use his fitness to benefit the Pakistani side.

Salman and Akmal have been in superb form with brilliant knocks in the recently concluded Quaid Trophy and in the ongoing One-Day Cup. But the selectors instead retained Test batsman Asad Shafiq, who hit an epic 137 in Pakistan’s narrow 39-run defeat in the first Test at Brisbane last week. Pakistan lost the second Test in Melbourne by an innings and 18 runs on Friday.

They play the third and final Test in Sydney from January 3 before the one-day series. Hafeez was thought likely to return to one-day team after his bowling action was cleared following a 12-month ban, but his recent form was not considered good enough to earn a recall.

Squad:

Azhar Ali (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Imad Wasim, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Amir