Pakistan Thursday recalled senior batsman Younis Khan in the 16-man squad for the one-day series against England starting later this month, despite reservations over his current form.
The 37-year-old batsman was discarded from the one-day team after a poor tour of New Zealand and 2015 World Cup in April, where he managed just 77 runs in six matches.
But chief selector Haroon Rasheed said Pakistan would need his batting experience during the four-match series.
“Obviously his current Test form is good and we need a senior batsman to stabilise our middle order batting,” Rasheed said.
Younis has had a see-saw one-day career of 264 matches, having scored only two hundreds in the last seven years, a record that has lead head coach Waqar Younis and support staff to reportedly resisted selecting him.
But Rasheed defending selecting Younis.
“It’s not a backward move because we have a few tough series coming up and we need to strengthen our batting. It’s up to Younis to adapt to the modern needs of one-day cricket,” said Rasheed.
The first of four one-day matches start in Abu Dhabi on November 11.
The squad has uncapped 20-year-old Zafar Gohar who bowls left-arm spin and bats in the lower order, replacing Imad Wasim who is ruled out of the one-day matches with injury.
Pakistan and England will also play three Twenty20 Internationals for which a squad will be announced later.
Azhar Ali will lead Pakistan’s one-day team.
Squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Zafar Gohar, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Anwar Ali, Amir Yamin and Bilal Asif.
