Malik in, Shoaib Akhtar out of Pakistani squad for Windies tour
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

LAHORE: Off-spinner Shoaib Malik has been included in and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar excluded from the 17-member Pakistan cricket team for the forthcoming tour of the West Indies. Stylish batsman Bazid Khan is the only new face in the team. Shabbir Ahmed and Yasir Hameed have been recalled but Mohammad Hafeez has been dropped.

Malik was included in the team after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)-appointed inquiry committee found him guilty of throwing a Twenty20 match between his team Sialkot Stallions and Karachi Zebras a few days back. He has been served punishment accordingly but included in the touring squad.

However, Shoaib Akhtar was not considered because of fitness problems. "Akhtar’s medical report suggests that the speedster is still not fit and the selection committee who have seen him playing in the recent Twenty20 Cup are of the view that he is not fit," chief selector Wasim Bari told journalists at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Monday.

He insisted that it was a consensus team, which was selected in consultation with captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and coach Bob Woolmer. When asked if Akhtar was excluded on disciplinary grounds, Bari said that the issue didn’t fall under their term of reference.

"Which selector wouldn’t select a fit Akhtar in the team?" he asked. Shabbir’s inclusion in the team was very much on the cards as the lanky fast bowler has not only gained match fitness but also satisfied the selectors with his performance in recent domestic cricket matches.

"We have closely watched Shabbir playing in domestic cricket and his last one month’s report suggests that he is match fit," the chief selector insisted.

The selectors also reposed confidence in young Kamran Akmal whose brilliant century had played a significant role in drawing the first Test against India at Mohali in March last and who was also declared as the best wicket-keeper of the recently concluded Twenty20 Cup event.

According to sources the selectors were under tremendous pressure from Inzamam-ul-Haq to include Moin Khan in the team. Bari said the inclusion of Moin was also discussed at length but the selection committee preferred Kamran Akmal whose overall performance on the Indian tour was satisfactory.

There were rumours that Moin will be selected ahead of Kamran because of the latter’s poor performance in a couple of matches on the Indian tour. "If we start chopping players on the basis of their bad performance in one or two matches it would hamper our efforts to convert the team into a winning combination. Kamran deserves continuity and Inzamam also understood our point," Bari claimed.

When asked about the non-inclusion of Umar Gul, the chief selector said: "Though the fast bowler is fit yet he has had a long lay-off from serious cricket. We don’t want to induct him in the team straightaway but we’ll do so in due course."

About the non-selection of Imran Farhat, Bari said though he performed well in domestic cricket the overall performance of Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt and Yasir Hameed was better than him.

"Imran is a good opener but keeping in view the short nature of the the West Indies tour we stuck to our policy of consistency," Bari said.

The selectors have also picked Bazid Khan, the son of former Test opener Majid Khan, for the West Indies tour. Bazid is in Namibia with the Pakistan A team and was expected to join the national team in the West Indies.

"Bazid is knocking at the doors of Test cricket for a long time. His recent performance in Sri Lanka and Namibia has been quite satisfactory," Bari added.

Squad: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Asim Kamal, Shabbir Ahmad, Arshad Khan, Shoaib Malik, Salman Butt, Yasir Hameed, Kamran Akmal, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Nazir, Danish Kaneria, Rao Iftikhar, Bazid Khan.●