KARACHI: Batsmen Umar Akmal and Asad Shafiq were the notable inductions in the 16-man Pakistan squad on Sunday for the upcoming One-day International series against the West Indies in the UAE.

Akmal, who is currently participating in the ongoing Twenty20 International series against the West Indies after being sidelined since the World Twenty20 in India over disciplinary issues, hasn’t played in One-day Internationals since Pakistan lost to eventual champions Australia in the quarter-final of the ICC World Cup at Adelaide in March 2015.

The national selection committee, headed by former Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq, also recalled stylish right-handed batsman Asad along with the pace duo of Sohail Khan and Rahat Ali for the series that starts from Friday in Sharjah with the second fixture again scheduled in Sharjah on Oct 2 and the last at Abu Dhabi on Oct 5.

Azhar Ali, who is under scrutiny in the wake of Pakistan’s ninth spot in the current ICC one-day team rankings, has already been retained as skipper against the eighth-ranked West Indies with Twenty20 leader Sarfraz Ahmed officially announced as the vice-captain in the official PCB media release on Sunday.

Asad hasn’t been part of the one-day side since playing the last of his 58 matches against Zimbabwe at Harare last October, while Sohail — who like Akmal previously appeared at the ODI level in the Adelaide fixture 18 months ago — has replaced the out-of-sorts seamer Umar Gul after the latter’s lacklustre comeback during the England series last month.

The induction of Asad was a foregone conclusion after the diminutive player inspired Karachi Whites to the final of the recent National Twenty20 Cup in which he amassed 310 runs at 51.66 with a rapid strike rate of 139.01.

Also missing from the squad that figured in the 4-1 drubbing against England is veteran opener Mohammad Hafeez who just played the opening game of that series following a calf injury from which he is still recuperating. According sources, the former national T20 team captain has been ‘rested’.

Young left-handed opening batsman Sami Aslam has been dropped after scoring just 33 runs in three matches against England.

Given the nature of pitches in the UAE, the selectors have opted to include leg-spinner Yasir Shah, who claimed 18 wickets in 17 one-dayers, alongside the left-arm spinning all-rounders Imad Wasim and Mohammad Nawaz with Shoaib Malik adding variety with his occasional off-spin bowling.

Rahat, who last played in an ODI in January against New Zealand at Auckland, joins fellow left-armers Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir as well as Sohail and Hasan Ali in a five-man pace battery. The giant injury-proned seamer Mohammad Irfan was not considered for selection after pulling up injured during the England series.

Pakistan have already wrapped up the Twenty20 leg of the series by sealing a 16-run victory in Dubai late on Saturday night to hold an unassailable 2-0 advantage with Tuesday night’s third and last game in Abu Dhabi opening golden opportunity for Sarfraz’s men to complete their maiden whitewash over the West Indies.

Squad: Azhar Ali (captain, 39 One-day Internationals), Sarfraz Ahmed (vice-captain, 64), Sharjeel Khan (17),

Babar Azam (15), Asad Shafiq (58), Shoaib Malik (237), Umar Akmal (111), Mohammad Rizwan (17), Mohammad Nawaz (5), Imad Wasim (11), Yasir Shah (17), Rahat Ali (14), Mohammad Amir (22), Wahab Riaz (72), Hasan Ali (5), Sohail Khan (12).

Published in Dawn September 26th, 2016

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