Abbottabad, July 13: An 18-member Pakistan hockey team was named on Thursday at the end of day’s trials for the Champions Trophy with penalty corner striker Sohail Abbas and half back Waseem Ahmed getting the selector’s nod.

Axe fell on Shabbir Ahmed who failed to find a place even in the reserves.

Ghaznafar Ali will lead the team while Rehan Butt will be his deputy as a three-match ban has been imposed on regular team captain, Saqlin, for Champions Trophy.

Secretary, Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), Musarrat Ullah Khan announced the team at a press conference.

Earlier, the trials were watched by chief selector, Khalid Mehmood and member of the selection committee, Akhtarul Islam.

The PHF secretary disclosed that Pakistan’s main target was World Cup and different combinations were being tried in this regard.

He said though the team was picked on the basis of current form of players, their past performance was also taken into consideration.

Manager-cum-coach, Asif Bajwa, said the players were in high spirit and looking forward for restoring the country’s image.

Team:

Goal-keepers: Salman Akbar, Nasir Ahmed.

Full-backs: Sohail Abbas, Zeeshan Ashraf, Ehsan Ullah, Mohammad Imran.

Half-backs: Ghaznafar Ali, Mohammad Saqlin, Dilawar Hassan, Waseem Ahmed, Adnan Maqsood.

Forwards: Rehan Butt, Shakeel Abbasi, Saleem Khalid, Waqas Shareef, Adnan Zakir, Akhter Ali, Mohammad Zubair.

Stand byes: Imran Warsi, Sajjad, Waqas Akbar, Imran Khan, Mudassar Jr, Naeem Akbar.