Pakistan on Tuesday included all rounders Shahid Afridi and Hammad Azam in its one-day and Twenty20 squads for the rest of this month’s series against England in the United Arab Emirates. Opener Taufiq Umar will return home after the three-Test series which Pakistan won 3-0. Discarded former captain Shoaib Malik was also included in both squads. The first of four one-day matches will be played in Abu Dhabi on February 13. The one-days will be followed by three Twenty20 internationals.
Misbah-ul Haq will lead Pakistan in both the formats. All rounder Abdul Razzaq, part of the team in the one-day series against Sri Lanka in the UAE last year, has been dropped for poor performance. He missed the Bangladesh series in December due to a shoulder injury but failed to get a nod post-recovery. He has so far played 265 one-days and 46 Tests for Pakistan. Fellow all rounder Azam gets another chance and hard-hitting batsman Awais Zia will make his international debut in the T20 team after doing well in the newest form of the game in domestic competitions. Azam, 20, has played five one-day games but last appeared against Ireland in June 2011.
Paceman Wahab Riaz, part of the Test squad but who did not play in any of the matches, retains his place in both the one-day and T20 squads, while Test specialist Azhar Ali will be part of the one-day squad only. “On the request of Misbah, the selection committee has agreed to send Malik to join the one-day and T20 squads,” Pakistan Cricket Board said. Malik’s inclusion comes as a surprise after he flopped in his last five one-day innings, scoring a mere 33 runs. He managed just 22 in three Twenty20 innings. One-day squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Azhar Ali, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik.
Twenty20 squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Awais Zia, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik.
