December 15, 2006	Friday	Ziqa'ad 23, 1427

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, Dec 14: Pakistan suffered a setback on Thursday when vice-captain Younis Khan declared his unavailability for the fifth and final One-day International against the West Indies.

Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors, told Dawn that Younis, who also skipped the previous two games because of his brother’s death last week, has decided to make himself unavailable for Saturday’s match here at the National Stadium.

“Younis doesn’t feel he is in the right frame of mind presently. At the same time we felt it would be an unwise move to ask him to play after this latest bereavement in his family. Our sympathies are with him,” Bari said.

However, there was better news for Pakistan, who lead the series 2-1 with the opening fixture in Rawalpindi washed out, with prolific batsman Mohammad Yousuf certain to play here.

Yousuf pulled out of Wednesday’s fourth match in Multan, which the West Indies won by seven wickets, as he was attending his ailing wife in Lahore. “Yousuf is a definite starter for the Karachi match,” Bari confirmed.

The chief selector hoped Inzamam-ul-Haq make a quick recovery from a finger injury that ruled him out of the fourth ODI in his hometown.

The 36-year-old Pakistan captain sustained the injury to the little finger of his left-hand, which necessitated three stitches, while trying to catch Marlon Samuels during the third ODI in Lahore on Sunday.

Regarding the announcement of the squad for the Karachi fixture, Bari indicated there would be no surprises in store.

“Basically, we will be relying on the same squad because we see no point in making wholesale changes at this stage of the series but hopefully Pakistan would field their strongest possible team on Saturday,” he remarked.

Shahid Afridi, who was sent to Multan along with Faisal Iqbal as cover for Inzamam and Yousuf, could get another opportunity to redeem himself despite being dismissed by the West Indian paceman Daren Powell for just one when he played across the line to a perfect leg-cutter.

Afridi could be retained at the expense of out-of-form all-rounder Shoaib Malik. Speedster Mohammad Sami, who impressed in Multan in his first ODI after 10 months, is also set to play instead of Rao Iftikhar.

Probable squad: Inzamam-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Hameed, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Rao Iftikhar, Abdur Rehman, Faisal Iqbal, Shoaib Malik, Danish Kaneria.