April 20, 2008	Sunday	Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1429

KARACHI, April 19: History will be made on Sunday when Pakistan host their first-ever Twenty20 International as Shoaib Malik’s team take on Bangladesh in the one-off game here at the National Stadium.

Pakistan, who lost to India in a nail-biting final of the inaugural World Twenty20 Championship in South Africa last September, are overwhelming favourites to score their third victory in as many matches against Bangladesh, and overall their ninth in 12 games at this level.

One of Bangladesh’s three wins in eight games of the shortest format of limited-overs cricket, that became popular globally a few years ago, was against the West Indies, who were eliminated from the tournament in the preliminary round.

From the side that clinched the one-day series 5-0 on Saturday, Pakistan have once again chosen to ignore Mohammad Yousuf’s claims to be a part of the Twenty20 side – a decision that has reportedly left the 33-year-old master batsman fuming.

The selectors have instead gone for youth as they have named the uncapped pair of all-rounder Mansoor Amjad and left-handed opening batsman Shoaib Khan in a 15-man squad.

Yousuf almost signed up with the Indian Cricket League (ICL) after he was famously excluded from the national squad for the World Twenty20 Championship.

But Yousuf didn’t join the rebel league after top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) assured him that he would play in the ICC-recognised Indian Premier League (IPL). However, Yousuf was overlooked by all eight IPL franchises when the auction took place. Compared to the one-day series, a better turnout is expected on the weekly holiday for the match that is slated to begin at 6:00pm with each innings lasting 80 minutes.

Teams (from):

PAKISTAN: Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Asif, Mansoor Amjad, Shoaib Khan, Wahab Riaz.

BANGLADESH: Mohammad Ashraful (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Aftab Ahmed, Shakib Al Hasan, Mahmudullah, Dhiman Ghosh, Farhad Reza, Abdur Razzak, Mashrafe Mortaza, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain, Raqibul Hasan, Shahriar Nafees, Nazimuddin.

Umpires: Nadeem Ghauri and Zameer Haider (both Pakistan).

TV umpire: Saleem Badar (Pakistan).

Match referee: Mike Procter (South Africa).