All-rounder Shahid Afridi, middle-order batsman Umar Akmal have been left out of the one-day international squad the forthcoming Champions Trophy, scheduled to be held in England in June and the preceding fixtures against Scotland and Ireland.
Pacers Asad Ali and Ehsan Adil, and the batsman Umar Amin have been picked. All of them weren’t the selected for South Africa tour earlier this year. Asad is yet to make his international debut while Amin has played three ODIs and four Tests.
Pace Umar Gul was already been ruled out of the tournament which means that Junaid Khan will spearhead the pace attack.
Afridi was axed in the wake of his poor form with ball during the South Africa tour. He was also left out for the India tour in December-January. Though the omission from two imperative series in five months have raised question mark on his future but chief selector Iqbal Qasim insisted that the doors are team are not closed for all-rounder and he can make a comeback by rediscovering his form in domestic circuit.
“Afridi had been selected as a bowling allrounder but he was not up to the mark and couldn’t score at crucial occasions so we had to left him out,” said Qasim.
“His career is not finished, if he performs at domestic level, he can stage a comeback. He is an asset to Pakistan, and as long as a player is performing he keeps on playing, if he doesn’t perform he goes out of the team.”
Though Afridi convinced with bat in South Africa ODI series and scored 126 runs in four innings at an average of 31 but he failed to claim a wicket despite of bowling 37 overs.
Pacer Wahab Riaz has been retained despite of below-par performance in South Africa.
Pakistan will play two matches in Scotland on May 17 and 19 and as many games in Ireland on May 23 and 26 before heading to The Oval and taking on West Indies in their tournament opener on June 7.
Squad:
Misbah ul Haq (Captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Kamran Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Asad Ali, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Irfan, Nasir Jamshed, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Umar Amin, Shoaib Malik, Ehsan Adil, Saeed Ajmal.
