RAWALPINDI, Dec 7: Pakistan selectors have named all-rounder Azhar Mahmood as the 17th player of the team that is due to fly out to New Zealand next week for a tour that features two Tests and five One-day Internationals.

The selectors had originally planned to send Azhar after the Test matches that precede

the one-day series but a spokesman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said he would now accompany the squad that leaves in the early hours of Thursday.

He has been included in the side so that he is able to acclimatise well for the one-dayers, the spokesman said.

Pakistan had named a 16-man squad on Friday recalling middle-order batsman Younis Khan while deciding to continue with Inzamam-ul-Haq as captain. Mohammad Ahmed was named as the assistant manager.

Meanwhile, outgoing chairman of the PCB, Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, met members of the national team at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and wished them good luck.