LAHORE, May 18 A 21-member Pakistan squad will defend their title in the eighth Asian Baseball Cup to be held in Bangkok, Thailand, from May 24 to 31.

Announcing the squad comprising 17 players and four officials, Pakistan Federation Baseball president Shaukat Javed said on Monday the team was selected on merit, which was capable to defend the title Pakistan had won in Rawalpindi in 2006.

He said the top team of the Cup would qualify for the six-nation seniors league in July, and which was also the qualifying round for the Asian Games and the Asian championship.

The squad comprises two catchers, three pitchers, besides having six players for different bases, he said, adding short stopper (2), left deep fielder (2) centre deep and right deep fielder, one each are also the part of the team.

Squad Umair Bhatti, Zaheer Bashir (catchers); Musaddiq Hanif, Arshad Khan (1st base); Imtiaz Ali, Nasir Butt (2nd base); Azam Usman (3rd base); Mohammad Arif, Sarfraz Ahmed (short-stopper); Mohammad Asif; Mohammad Usman (left deep fielder); Sumair Zawar (centre deep fielder); Mohammad Farooq (right deep fielder); Saleem Haider, Ihsanullah, Hafiz Usman (pitchers).