LAHORE: Experienced middle-order batsman Younis Khan is recalled in the one-day team while Mohammad Hafeez has again lost his place from the Test side as the national selection committee announced both teams for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka, starting from Aug 6, comprising two Tests and three ODIs.

Others who have also found place in the Test squad are middle-order batsman Umar Akmal and medium-fast Wahab Riaz.

In the ODI squad, Wahab and left-arm spinner Zulifqar Babar found places besides Younis while pacemen Umar Gul, Bilawal Bhatti and left-arm spinner Abdur Rehman did not get the nod of the national selection committee headed by Moin Khan.

Younis expressed his desire to resume his ODI career as the selectors had confined him to Test cricket because of his poor run in the shorter version of the game.

He played his last ODI for Pakistan in March 2013 and now he has enough time to prove his potential to be part of next year’s World Cup squad as Pakistan have to play series against Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia before the mega event, which will be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

Hafeez’s performance in longer version of the game remained questionable whereas his form in ODI and T20 remained satisfactory.

His aggregate of 102 runs in 10 innings against South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2013 received severe criticism.

He was recalled for the series against Sri Lanka in December-January last year, as he scored 113 runs in two Tests.

The selectors have again trusted Umar Akmal as a Test player. Though Umar has cemented his place in the ODI and T20 formats, his place in the Test team remained in the doldrums for not playing a big knock. However, after almost three years he has been given a chance in the longer version of the game.

Wahab is preferred over Umar Gul and Bilawal Bhatti.

Overall, the pace attack of both Test and ODI squads looks mediocre as they have only Junaid Khan as the key bowler.

As lanky fast bowler Mohammad Irfan is out due to fitness problems, inclusion of Rahat Ali, Mohammad Talha and Wahab Riaz does not make it a lethal fast bowling attack.

Similarly, the ODI pace attack of Talha, Wahab, Anwar Ali and Junaid is also not looking effective.

Wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal is dropped from the Test squad to give full chance to Sarfraz Ahmed.

Adnan could play first Test of the last series against Sri Lanka in the UAE but got his finger fractured as Sarfraz was sent to play the remaining Test of the series.

Three openers Ahmad Shahzad, Khurram Manzoor and Shan Masood are included in the Test squad.

Both Ahmad and Khurram performed well in the last Test Pakistan played against Sri Lanka in Sharjah, winning by five wickets.

While Ahmad scored 147 in the first innings, Khurram made half-century in the first knock of that Test.

Azhar Ali, who hit century in that Test scoring 103, is also part of the Test squad along with captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq and Younis Khan.

Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman are two key spinners.

Pakistan will play the first Test in Galle from Aug 6 and the second in Colombo from Aug 14, before starting the ODI series from Aug 23.

Test squad: Ahmed Shehzad, Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Talha, Junaid Khan, Rahat Ali, Wahab Riaz.

ODI squad: Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Umar Akmal (wicket-keeper), Fawad Alam, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz, Zulfiqar Babar.

Published in Dawn, July 10th , 2014