DUBAI: Pakistan on Tuesday included uncapped wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal and Mohammad Hafeez in their squad for the two Test matches against South Africa starting later this week.
Pakistan were forced to make the changes after their regular keeper Zulqarnain Haider fled the team hotel in Dubai on Monday and flew to London after reportedly receiving death threats from an unknown person.
“Adnan has been included in the Test squad as replacement for Haider and we have asked Hafeez to stay for the Tests after leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was not given clearance by the cricket board,” team manager Intikhab Alam told AFP. The first of two Tests starts in Dubai from Friday.
The second Test will be played in Abu Dhabi from November 20. Haider, earlier named in the Test squad, left for London without giving any information to the team management and told Pakistan’s local channel Geo on Tuesday that he was retiring from international cricket. Haider played the two Twenty20s and the first four one-day internationals in the series shifted to United Arab Emirates due to security fears in Pakistan.
Adnan, 25, is the elder brother of Umar Akmal and younger brother to Kamran, who was not selected for the tour after undergoing an appendicitis operation. Pakistan also suffered a set-back when paceman Sohail Tanvee, named in the squad last month, failed to prove his fitness and was excluded from the Tests.
