Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said Wednesday he would skip the Twenty20 team's conditioning camp at a luxury holiday resort due to a skin problem. "I have skin problems in the groin... a doctor advised me a week's rest, so I will miss the conditioning camp starting from Thursday," Akhtar told AFP. The 33-year-old Akhtar was selected for Pakistan's 15-man squad despite question marks over his fitness.
He played only four Twenty20 games last year owing to fitness and discipline problems. When Akhtar returned in February this year, he was dropped from the team after getting just one wicket in the two one-day matches against Sri Lanka. He was later ruled out of the Test series against Sri Lanka because of knee problems. The series was abandoned after a deadly attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore.
Akhtar played four one-day matches in Pakistan's latest one-day series against Australia in United Arab Emirates, taking three wickets without completing 10 overs in any of the matches. Pakistan's World Twenty20 squad will undergo fitness drills at the Pakistani hill resort of Bhurban before playing three practice matches ahead of the second World Twenty20 tournament starting in England from June 1.
Akhtar hoped he would be fit in time for the practice matches. "I will be fit when the practice matches start and will play these matches. Playing Twenty20 is a great challenge and hopefully I will be up to it," said Akhtar. The mercurial paceman was also included in the inaugural World Twenty20 squad held in South Africa in 2007 but was expelled two days before the event on disciplinary action for assaulting team-mate Mohammad Asif with a bat.
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