The Pakistan Cricket Board selection Committee on Monday announced the national teams for the next month’s Bangladesh series excluding bowler Wahab Riaz and called up Mohammad Talha. Although there was no official word for the dropping of Wahab Riaz, but a former cricketer close to the PCB said that due to suspicion of involvement in the match-fixing the PCB decided to keep him out of the team. The Pakistan team will face Bangladesh in a series of one-off T20, three ODIs and two Test matches. Apart from Wahab Raiz, the team is the same currently playing against Sri Lanka.
The selection committee picked a 16-man squad for the series to be held in Bangladesh next month. Although chief selector Mohammad Ilyas gave no reason for Riaz’s non-selection, media reports speculated that Riaz and Akmal would be questioned by the International Cricket Council’s anti-corruption unit yet again. “We consulted team management and selected players on the basis of their recent performances,” Ilyas said in a press conference. Pakistan open the tour with a Twenty20 in Dhaka on November 29. Riaz’s place went to promising paceman Mohammad Talha. The 23-year-old has played only one Test against Sri Lanka in 2009. All members of Pakistan’s one-day squad currently playing against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates have retained their places.
Squad: Misbah-ul Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farha, Shahid Afridi, Younus Khan, Umar Akm, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq, Reserves: Muhammad Khalil, Ayub Dogar, Raza Hasan , One-Day International and T20 squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal,, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Younus Khan, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Sohail Tanvir, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Reserves: Awais Zia, Raza Hasan, Yasir Shah.
Wahab axed from squad for B’desh series
