August 18, 2003	Monday	Jumadi-us-Sani 19, 1424

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KARACHI, Aug 17: Pace bowler Shoaib Akhtar finally turned up at the Pakistan team’s first practice session at the National Stadium on Sunday after having missed the eight-day training camp in Lahore.

Shoaib arrived in the city on Saturday from Islamabad after returning a day earlier from England where he was playing for Durham in the County Championship.

Top batsman Inzamam-ul-Haq was unable to join his team-mates at the stadium because of stomach disorder and stayed back in the team’s hotel.

Another notable absentee was Javed Miandad who was down with influenza. The Pakistan coach was expected to arrive here from Lahore later in the evening.

Haroon Rasheed, the Pakistan manager, supervised the three-hour nets during which the squad went through various drills.

Bangladesh squad, which reached Karachi from Dhaka in the early hours of Sunday, also had nets in the afternoon under the guidance of their Sri Lankan-born Australian coach Dav Whatmore.

After the opening Test here, the remaining two Tests will be played at Peshawar and Multan.

One-day specialists Tushar Imran, Hasibul Hossain and Musfiqur Rahman will arrive later for the five-match series.

The Bangladesh Test squad: Khaled Mahmud (captain), Habibul Bashar (vice-captain), Hannan Sarkar, Javed Omar, Sanwar Hossain, Mohammad Ashraful, Razin Saleh, Alok Kapali, Mohammad Rafique, Khaled Mashud, Tapash Baishya, Manjurul Islam, Anwar Hossain, Alamgir Kabir and Mashrafe bin Murtaza. Officials: Dav Whatmore (coach), Latif Khan (manager), John Gloster (physiotherapost), Dean Woodford (fitness advisor) and Nasir Ahmed (computer analyst).