Fast-rising allrounder Imad Wasim has been ruled out of the three-match Twenty20 series against England starting next week after failing to recover from a hand injury.
While Wasim will be absent from the pitch, batsman Umar Akmal has been included on the team’s roster after being temporarily axed on disciplinary grounds.
Wasim, 26, who made his debut earlier this year, fractured a finger in a domestic first-class match and was included in the squad subject to his recovery.
But the PCB said Wasim will need more time and will be replaced by another spinning all-rounder, Bilal Asif, who is already with the team in the United Arab Emirates for the ongoing one-day series.
PCB medical officer Sohail Saleem said after inspection of Wasim’s injury it was decided not to risk him.
“After inspection he was initially advised complete rest for three weeks and another inspection revealed he needs a further week’s rest,” said a PCB statement.
Wasim has so far played five one-day and as many Twenty20 matches, impressing with a last over six to guide Pakistan to victory against Sri Lanka in a T20 international in August this year.
In an another development, Akmal, who was left out of the squad pending an inquiry into a disciplinary issue, was included in the team’s roster.
“Subsequent to his being cleared by the inquiry initiated by the PCB’s security and vigilance department with regard to media reports of an incident in Hyderabad, Umar (Akmal) has been inducted in the T20 squad against England,” said a PCB statement.
PCB chief selector Haroon Rasheed said Akmal was cleared over a reported breach of discipline in which he was alleged to have misbehaved with women at a dance party.
“Umar had been part of the original squad picked up by the selection committee, but he was subsequently held back on instructions from the Board, as he had been issued with a show cause notice for bringing PCB and Pakistan cricket into disrepute,” the statement quoted Rasheed as saying.
“Now that he has been cleared after an inquiry into the Hyderabad incident, he has been included in the squad.”
Pakistan and England play the three matches in Dubai (November 26 and 27) and Sharjah (November 30). Revised Pakistan Twenty20 squad: Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Rafatullah Mohmand, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Bilal Asif, Imran Khan junior, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Aamer Yamin.
