LAHORE: Pakistan cricket selectors, headed by former Test captain Inzamamul Haq, Sunday recalled dashing batsmen Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq to Pakistan’s 16-member one-day squad named for the upcoming series against West Indies in the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan will play three ODIs against the West Indies on Sept 30 and Oct 2 in Sharjah, and Oct 5 in Abu Dhabi. “While picking the squad, the team management and skipper were consulted and all concerned gave their consent in this regard,” said a Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman. Fast bowlers Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali have also been included in the national outfit. Sami Aslam and Umar Gul, who were in the squad for the England ODIs, have been excluded, while Mohammad Hafeez will miss the series due to an injury. Earlier, a similar injury had forced him out of the England series after the first ODI. The injury also kept him out of the T20I series against West Indies. Sohail has not played since last year while Rahat was part of the team on the New Zealand tour in January. Pakistan lost their last one-day series in England 4-1 and are currently ninth in the one-day rankings.
26-year-old Umar, who was sidelined for 18 months over disciplinary problems, played the last of his 111 one-day internationals in March during the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Negative comments about Akmal’s behaviour by former head coach Waqar Younis and ex-manager Intikhab Alam almost derailed his career. He was recalled to the Twenty20 squad earlier this month after being passed over for five months. The last ODI Asad played for Pakistan was against Zimbabwe in October 2015 in Harare.
The middle-order batsman has scored 1,318 runs in ODIs at an average of 25.34 while batting in the middle-order, and has expressed his willingness to bat at any position for the team. Asad has been picked after a strong showing in the recent National Twenty20 Cup. He was the fourth-highest run-scorer with 310 at an average of 51.66 and a strike rate of 139.01. The squad also includes a specialist spinner in Yasir Shah and three spin-bowling allrounders – Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim and Shoaib Malik. Both Pakistan and West Indies will be looking to improve their ICC ODI Rankings. West Indies are currently eighth on the table with 94 points while Pakistan are ninth with 86 points.
Squad:
Azhar Ali (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Babar Azam, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Sohail Khan.