LAHORE: Haris Sohail was named on Tuesday to replace the unfit Umar Akmal in the Pakistan squad for the forthcoming ICC Champions Trophy, which starts from June 1 in England.

The 28-year-old returns to the national side after a lapse of almost two years following recovery from a knee injury and was among three contenders for the vacant slot alongside fellow left-hander Umar Amin and the uncapped Asif Zakir.

The trio underwent a one-day fitness test at the National Cricket Academy here on Tuesday before the national selection committee — led by former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq — Haris as the replacement player.

A PCB media release stated: “The national selection committee had called Umar Amin, Haris Sohail and Asif Zakir for fitness test at the National Cricket Academy to replace Umar Akmal, who had earlier failed to pass the fitness test in the pre-camp for Champions Trophy in Birmingham. Umar Akmal has been told to return home to work on his fitness.

“The NCA trainer conducted the test of all three players and based on the reports submitted by the trainer and upon Pakistan’s team management request Haris Sohail has been selected to replace Umar Akmal for the Champions Trophy to commence from June 1, 2017 in England and Wales,” it concluded.

Haris, who last appeared in an ODI against Zimbabwe in Lahore on May 29 in 2015, has played 22 one-dayers and four T20 matches. He has scored 774 runs at 43.00 in the ODIs.

It may be mentioned here that Umar failed two fitness tests after joining the squad in Birmingham last week and was also omitted from the ODI and T20 series in the West Indies after it emerged he was overweight.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2017