LAHORE, April 14: After remaining out of action for six months due to injury Pakistan’s pace spearhead Mohammad Asif is set to resume international cricket after being named in the 16-man squad on Monday for the fourth One-day International against Bangladesh.

Besides Asif, right-handed batsman Naumanullah was also included in the 16-man squad announced for the fourth ODI, to be held in Multan on Wednesday.

Pakistan have already taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series.

Asif played his last international match when he featured in the fourth ODI against South Africa at Multan in October last year. The right-arm pacer is all set to continue his international stint at the same venue on Wednesday.

In his last ODI Asif had remained very ordinary finishing with figures of 8-0-64-0. Due to his elbow injury he was then ruled out of the fifth and final ODI of the series before missing the high-profile tour of India due to recurrence of the injury. The accuracy-depending paceman then also missed the ODI home series against Zimbabwe.

During this period, Asif was operated upon in Australia. To stage a comeback in the international cricket, Asif played a match for the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in the National One-day Cricket Cup semi-final.

Pakistan seem to require the services of their top fast bowlers like Asif and Umar Gul as their second-string bowling attack was exposed even by an inexperienced batting line-up of Bangladesh in the third ODI at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.

Though Pakistan won the third game by 23 runs, Bangladesh were no pushovers while chasing a formidable 309.

While Umar and Shoaib Akhtar were not playing in Lahore, for different reasons, pace attack of Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar and Sohail Khan did not impress much.

There is a report that Bangladesh near-successful effort to chase a big total on Sunday were noticed by the Pakistan team management, who held a meeting with the selectors after the match and decided to recall Asif for strengthening the bowling attack.

Meanwhile, chief selector Salahuddin said Naumanullah had been doing well in the domestic cricket and deserved a chance.

Squad:

Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Rao Iftikhar, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan, Naumanullah, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper).