Pakistan Cricket selectors have announced 16-member cricket team, headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq, for the first two one-day internationals (ODIs) against India to be played at Karachi and Rawalpindi on March 13 and 16, respectively.
The team members are Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Younis Khan, Shabbir Ahmed, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan and Saqlain Mushtaq.
Chairman National Selection Committee Wasim Bari said that the team has been selected in consultation with the Pakistani captain and coach. Asim Kamal and Danish Kaneria have not been included, as they are thought to be more useful in longer version of the game and will, therefore, be considered for the tests.
As regard Shahid Afridi he has been included because he is a utility player in the limited over cricket, besides being a very fine fielder. Rana Naveed, Misbah and Rao Iftikhar have been selected due to their good performance in the domestic circuit.
Wasim Bari said that the players appearing in the Quaid-e-Azam Cup and Trophy will be considered for selection in the remaining three matches of the five match one-day international series.
The third one-day will be played in Peshawar on March 19 while Lahore will host the fourth and fifth one-day internationals on March 21 and March 24.
The selectors also named Pakistan-A team for India tour opening one-day warm-up game to be played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on March 11. Taufeeq Umar has been named as the skipper. The team members are Imran Nazir, Taufeeq Umar, Faisal Iqbal, Bazid Khan, Nauman Ullah, Kamran Akmal, Yasir Arafat, Junaid Zia, Umar Gul, Zahid Saeed, Mohammad Khaleel, Ashar Zaidi and Qaiser Abbas.
Hasan Raza was named PCB-XI captain that will take on Pakistan in a practice match at the National Stadium Karachi on March 10. The team members are Shadab Kabir, Naveed Qureshi, Naved Latif, Asim Kamal, Hasan Raza, Aamir Bashir, Salman Butt, Naeem Ahmed Khan, Saeed Ajmal, Tauqeer Hussain, Sami Niazi, Abdul Rauf and Tanveer Ahmed.