Gul, YK dropped from ODI squad

Pakistan Cricket Board recently announced the 15-man squad of Team Pakistan for the upcoming three-match series against Australia in United Arab Emirates. The series will start at the end of August after Australia has played the one off ODI against Afghanistan. Many changes have been made in the ODI squad as Pakistan has dropped some of its senior players like Younis Khan and Umar Gul because they were out of form, as said by the chief selector, Iqbal Qasim.

Sarfraz Ahmad, who was struggling with his wicket-keeping and batting in the ODI series against Sri Lanka, has also been side-lined and Kamran Akmal, who was selected for World T20 and t20 series against Australia, has also been picked. Rahat Ali, who played only 1 ODI against Sri Lanka, has also been dropped. There was no room for the fast bowler Mohammad Sami too in the ODI squad.

Anwar Ali, who played for Pakistan U19 and performed well, is also picked. Pakistan has brought back Shoaib Malik, Junaid Khan, Nasir Jamshed and Kamran Akmal for this series.

Iqbal Qasim said that it is necessary to give Umar Gul and Younis Khan a break as they were out of form and needed a rest to manage their workload. He also said that Kamran Akmal was selected so that he can get some confidence for the World T20 2012. Abdul Razzaq, who was selected for T20s, has no room in the team. The squad will be led by Misbah-ul-Haq and will get the services of star all-rounder, Shahid Afridi,  Mohammad Hafeez and the mysterious Ajmal. It also contains the young guns like Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali. The first ODI between Pakistan and Australia will be played on 28 August at Sharjah.

Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, 

Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Sohail Tanvir, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed 

Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Anwar Ali.

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