KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday announced they would rest frontline pacemen Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz for the tour of Zimbabwe, as wicket-keeper batsman Kamran Akmal was again overlooked.
A 16-man squad was named for the tour which features one Test, three one-dayers and two Twenty20 matches, and starts with a tour match on August 28 followed by the Test in Bulawayo starting from September 1.
Misbah-ul-Haq will lead the team in all three formats.
"Because it's a short tour we have selected only one squad for all three formats of the game and have rested Riaz and Gul in a hope to try out some youngsters," chief selector Mohsin Khan said.
Kamran Akmal has been out of the team since the tour of the West Indies in May-June this year.
All-rounder and former captain Shoaib Malik, not selected since last year's tour of England, is on stand-by.
Both Kamran and Malik are under suspicion of match-fixing and have not been cleared by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) integrity committee.
"If Malik is cleared by the integrity committee, then he may get a chance for the tour because he is fit and has scored well in the domestic season," said Khan.
Leg-spinner Danish Kaneria was also not considered because of suspicions over him in a spot-fixing case which saw him arrested in England last year.
Also missing from the squad is all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who retired from international cricket last month after being dumped as one-day captain and refused to return under the current PCB set-up with Ijaz Butt as chairman.
Another all-rounder, Abdul Razzaq, was also not included following his dismal showing at this year's World Cup.
Pakistan dropped left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman, who took nine wickets in Pakistan's 1-1 Test series draw against the West Indies in May.
Adnan Akmal replaces Salman Ahmed, who was surprisingly preferred over him for the tour of the West Indies.
Uncapped 23-year-old batsman Ramiz Raja Junior and 25-year-old leg-spinner Yasir Shah were included for the first time, while 27-year-old paceman Sohail Kahn gets another chance after playing one Test and four one-day in 2009.
Opener Imran Farhat and all-rounder Sohail Tanveer were recalled after being dumped last year. Paceman Aizaz Cheema, 31, was included after he was withdrwan at the last minute from the tour of the West Indies on fitness grounds.
SQUAD: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Rameez Raja Junior, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Sohail Tanveer, Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Aizaz Cheema.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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