ISLAMABAD, Feb 8: The Pakistan hockey selectors on Wednesday named a 20-member squad for this month’s six-Test series against India following trials at the Naseer Bunda Stadium.

The selectors dropped inside-left Akhtar Ali and inducted three new faces in forwards Shabbir Khan, Mudassar Khan and Muhammad Zubair.

“The selection was unanimous and this side is fully capable of winning not just the Test series but also the Commonwealth Games,” chairman of selectors Akhtar Rasool told journalists.

Out of the 20 players, 16 will make the team for the Games which Melbourne hosts in March. “In choosing the party, we did take into account the performance at the Champions Trophy.”

Pakistan finished a poor fifth at the elite six-team tournament in Chennai in December and barely avoided missing out on the next edition with a 4-3 win over India.

The selectors picked 10 forwards on the team among them the talented Rehan Butt, vice captain Mudassar Ali Khan and Shakeel Abassi.

The side led by Muhammad Saqlain has five half-backs, three defenders — Zeeshan Ashraf, Muhammad Imran and Imran Warsi with Salman Akbar and Nasir Ahmed the goalkeepers.

Secretary of the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Musarratullah Khan said the reason for having a heavy forward line was to give some players time to recover after a hectic past few months.

The series which opens with Tests at Chandigarh on Feb 17 and 18, was termed a build-up from a Pakistan viewpoint by Akhtar. “This is an important year for we have the World Cup, the qualifying round and also the Champions Trophy.”

“In that context, the first three months are crucial,” he pointed out and added that for Pakistan the World Cup was the most important event of the year.

After the Indian leg of the series which will see the third match being played at Jallundhar on Feb 20, the teams will square off at Rawalpindi (Feb 22), Faisalabad (Feb 24) and Lahore (Feb 26).

The team will continue its preparations in Islamabad before leaving for India on Feb 15.

The Indians have dropped the in-form Gagan Ajit Singh for the series while also axing Deepak Thakur, Viren Rasquinha and Prabhjot Singh.

The Pakistan team officials remain unchanged with Asif Bajwa the chief coach and Rana Mujhaid acting as his deputy. Saeed Khan continues to be the manager. The party will also be accompanied by a newly inducted psychologist and a video analyst.

Meanwhile a proposal that would require clubs having to seek permission from a national federation before hiring a player, is to be discussed by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) next month.

Squad goalkeepers: Salman Akbar and Nasir Ahmed; full-backs Zeeshan Ashraf, M. Imran, Imran Warsi; half-backs Imran Khan, Muhammad Saqlain (captain), Dilawar Bhatti, Adnan Maqsood, Sajjad Anwar; forwards Rehan Butt, Mudassar Ali Khan (vice captain), Shakeel Abbasi Tariq Aziz, Shabbir Hussain, Adnan Zakir, Mudassar Khan, Waqas Sharif, Shabbir Khan, Muhammad Zubair. Standbys: Imran Shah, Ehsanullah, Atiq, M. Javed, Azhar Iqbal, Waqas Akbar.