Wicket keeper Kamran Akmal, dumped all rounder Abdul Razzak and opener Imran Nazir on Wednesday were named in a thirty member Pakistan squad for World T-20 Cup being played in September in Sri Lanka. Kamran is still awaiting clearance by PCB’s integrity committee as he will be appearing before it on July 4 .Razzak who last played for Pakistan in November ,2011 since injuring his shoulder in a one day series against Sri Lanka in UAE is a surprise inclusion in country’s provisional squad for the mega event. Imran last played for Pakistan in February 2010 and his inclusion has also put a question mark on the selection process. It is worth mentioning here that all the three re-called players don’t have central contracts awarded by PCB.
“Kamran has been selected after he was cleared by the integrity committee and we feel that he can still deliver as keeper and an opener in the Twenty20 cricket,” chief selector Iqbal Qasim said.
The 30-year-old has not been selected for Pakistan since the 2011 World Cup. His name was mentioned at the trial in England last year of three Pakistani Test players over spot-fixing allegations but he was neither summoned by the London court nor banned by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Former Test captain Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir were banned and jailed for contriving deliberate no-balls during the Lord’s Test against England in 2010.
Kamran was also accused of deliberately under-performing during Pakistan’s surprise defeat against Australia in the 2010 Sydney Test, where he failed to run out Shane Watson and dropped three chances from Michael Hussey.
The ICC directed the PCB to form an integrity committee to check players’conduct and their assets in the wake of the 2010 spot-fixing scandal. Pakistan appointed Mohammad Hafeez as their Twenty20 captain in May to replace the ageing Misbah-ul Haq. Misbah, who lost his Twenty20 place, is still missing from the preliminary squad despite vowing to get back in the shortest form.
Also recalled in the preliminary squad are all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and opener Imran Nazir. A final squad of 15 will be announced by mid-August. The squad has eight opening, five middle order batsmen, three all rounders, eight ace bowlers, three spinners and similar number of wicket keepers.
Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shahzad, Khalid Latif, Nasir Jamshed, Imran Nazir, Shahzaib Hasan, Awais Zia, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Rameez Raja, Shahid Afridi, Hammad Azam, Abdul Razzaq, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kamran Akmal, Shakeel Ansar.
Kamran in provisional ICC World T20 team
