Pakistan recall Malik, Sami for Zimbabwe ODIs

Published May 25, 2015
Shoaib Malik celebrates with teammates after taking wicket of Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza during the second and final T20 between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. — AFP
Shoaib Malik celebrates with teammates after taking wicket of Zimbabwe batsman Hamilton Masakadza during the second and final T20 between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. — AFP

LAHORE: Former captain Shoaib Malik and fast bowler Mohammad Sami have been recalled to the Pakistan one-day squad for the three-match series against Zimbabwe starting on Tuesday.

Malik, 33, played the last of his 216 one-dayers in the 2013 Champions Trophy against India and 34-year-old Sami has not been part of an ODI squad since June 2012.

Both were part of the Twenty20 squad that sealed a 2-0 series win over Zimbabwe on Sunday as Pakistan welcomed top-level international cricket back to the country after a six-year absence after militants attacked a Sri Lanka team bus in 2009.

Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal was left out for the matches at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also remained optimistic of playing arch-rivals India in a full series in the United Arab Emirates or any other mutually agreed venue in December.

“PCB is now expecting the government of India's permission for the revival of the series in the near future particularly after [Indian] Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public indication that his government would support the revival of the cricket series,” the PCB said in a statement.

ODI squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Anwar Ali, Hammad Azam, Imad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Sami, Junaid Khan.

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...