Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday selected squad for four One-day international (ODI) and three Twenty20 matches against England starting at Abu Dhabi from February 13 retaining Misbah-ul-Haq as skipper and most of the players of Test squad that whitewash England 3-0.
Awais Zia, who was the leading run scorer for Rawalpindi and the fourth-highest run scorer in the domestic Twenty20 with 177 runs from five games, is the only new face in Pakistan's 20-over squad for the Twenty20 series against England. Zia made his debut in 2007. PCB included allrounders Shahid Afridi and Hammad Azam in its One-day and Twenty20 squads for the rest of this month's series against England in the United Arab Emirates.
---- Misbah will lead in both the formats
---- Shoaib Malik, Hammad Azam made inclusion
Opener Taufiq Umar will return home after the three-Test series which Pakistan won 3-0. Misbah-ul Haq will lead Pakistan in both the formats. All rounder Abdul Razzaq, part of the team in the one-day series against Sri Lanka in the UAE last year, has been dropped for poor performance. He missed the Bangladesh series in December due to a shoulder injury but failed to get a nod post-recovery. He has so far played 265 one-days and 46 Tests for Pakistan.
Fellow all rounder Azam gets another chance and hard-hitting batsman Awais Zia will make his international debut in the T20 team after doing well in the newest form of the game in domestic competitions. Azam, 20, has played five One-day games but last appeared against Ireland in June 2011.
Paceman Wahab Riaz, part of the Test squad but who did not play in any of the matches, retains his place in both the One-day and T20 squads, while Test specialist Azhar Ali will be part of the One-day squad only. Discarded former captain Shoaib Malik was also included in both squads. "On the request of Misbah, the selection committee has agreed to send Malik to join the One-day and T20 squads," Pakistan Cricket Board said. Malik's inclusion comes as a surprise after he flopped in his last five One-day innings, scoring a mere 33 runs. He managed just 22 in three Twenty20 innings.
One-day squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Azhar Ali, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik.
Twenty20 squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Awais Zia, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Hammad Azam, Shoaib Malik.
FIXTURES
---- 1st ODI, February 13, Abu Dhabi
---- 2nd ODI, February 15, Abu Dhabi
---- 3rd ODI, February 18, Dubai
---- 4th ODI, February 21, Dubai
T20 series:
---- 1st T20, February 23, Dubai
---- 2nd T20, February 25, Dubai
3rd T20, February 27, Abu Dhabi.
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