Khan’s omission is a major blow to his chances of representing Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Pakistan have omitted veteran batsman Younis Khan from their squad for the upcoming ODI series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates next month.
Khan made his ODI comeback against Sri Lanka last month after not having played 50-over cricket since March 2013. However, he only scored three runs in the one match he played before he returned home following the death of his nephew.
Khan’s omission from the ODI squad is a major blow to his plans of representing Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup.
Pakistan have also left out batsman Sharjeel Khan and pace bowler Mohammad Talha.
However, they have decided to recall wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who performed extremely well in the recent two-Test series against Sri Lanka as he scored 265 runs, which included one century and three half-centuries, at an impressive average of 88.33.
Since spinner Saeed Ajmal is still banned from bowling after his action was found to be illegal, Pakistan have drafted Raza Hasan into the squad as his replacement.
Pakistan have also made numerous changes to their Twenty20 squad as 24-year-old batsman Saad Nasim has been rewarded with his maiden call-up to the national team.
Nasim is currently representing the Lahore Lions in the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) in India.
One of the major omissions from the squad is left-arm pace bowler Junaid Khan, who recently suffered a concussion after being hit on the side of the head by Sri Lanka pace bowler Dhammika Prasad during the second Test in Colombo.
He will be replaced by Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Irfan, while Anwar Ali will take Umar Gul’s spot on the roster since Gul is still recovering from an injury.
Interestingly enough, veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik and wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal have both been left out as well.
Meanwhile, it has also been announced that Awais Zia will be included in the squad and is highly likely to play his first Twenty20 International since February 2012.
Pakistan ODI squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal , Fawad Alam, Umar Amin, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Maqsood, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Junaid khan
Pakistan T20 squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Ahmed Shahzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Shoaib Maqsood, Awais Zia, Saad Naseem, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Bilwalal Bhatti, Anwar Ali, Sohail Tanvir