LAHORE, Oct 22 Middle-order batsman Misbah-ul-Haq failed to find a place on Thursday in any of the three Pakistan squads named by the national selection committee for the One-day Internationals, the Twenty20 contests as well as the Test series against New Zealand, to be held at two different off-shore venues in November-December.

Announcing the teams on Thursday, chief selector Iqbal Qasim, flanked by PCB chairman Ijaz Butt and coach Intikhab Alam, said Misbah was not considered owing to a rotation policy but would surely be in reckoning for the next series against Australia.

Pakistan are to play three ODIs against the Kiwis in Abu Dhabi, two Twenty20 games in Dubai and three Test matches in New Zealand. Due to security concerns, New Zealand had refused to play the series in Pakistan, so the rubber will still be considered a 'home' series for Pakistan.

The omission of Misbah from all types of cricket is somewhat surprising. Though his overall performance this year has not been impressive, it was still better than many others who still managed to find a place in Pakistan squads named on Thursday.

Misbah played five Test matches in 2009 and, in seven innings, scored 240 runs with two half-centuries. Similarly, he scored 300 runs in 12 ODI innings while in Twenty20 version, he scored 111 runs in six innings which is not a bad performance at all.

Other middle-order batsmen such as Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf and even captain Younis Khan could not put up consistent shows with the bat this year but they all made it to the national team.

Yousuf scored 253 runs in three Tests and another 253 in seven ODIs while Shoaib Malik's century (134) against Sri Lanka in Colombo was his only notable contribution with the bat in an aggregate of 318 from five Imran Farhat...brings new hope as opening batsman

Tests he played this year.

He scored 373 runs from 14 ODI innings in which his knock of 128 against India in the Champions Trophy was the major share. Similarly, Younis' epic knock of 313 against Sri Lanka in Karachi made up for almost 70 per cent of his aggregate (444 from five Tests) this year. He also managed to score 398 from 16 ODIs at a rather poor average of 24.87.

Sources said that Misbah probably lost out to latest batting sensation Umar Akmal, who features in all the three teams.

About the inclusion of Imran Farhat and Salman Butt, Iqbal said both were senior openers and were fit and available for the tough assignments ahead. While Farhat is included in all three squads, Salman is missing from the T20 outfit.

Imran, who dissociated himself from the breakaway ICL this year to become eligible for national selection, has got a golden opportunity to prove his mettle once again. However, a below par performance could see him getting axed for the tough tour of Australia, commencing late December. Salman was not selected for the last ODI series against Sri Lanka and was also omitted for the ICC Champions Trophy.

However, the chief selector expressed satisfaction over his current form in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy.

Defending the selection of all-rounder Yasir Arafat in the Test series, Iqbal, a former Test left-arm spinner, said “Yasir's performance in the last Test match that he played was good and therefore he is selected.”

But perhaps, the chief selector did not look up the statistics properly in Yasir's case who, in his last Test against Sri Lanka in Lahore during March this year, gave away 106 runs for just one wicket. In the Test before that, at Karachi, Yasir gave away 90 runs before snapping up his only wicket in the first innings and had figures of none for 32 in the second.

Since making his debut in 2001, Yasir has managed to play just three Tests. It was in his debut Test against India in Bangalore that he returned the match-figures of seven for 210, his best so far.

Similarly, Rao Iftikhar, who was named in the ODI as well as the T20 teams, played just four ODIs this year taking only five wickets. Similarly, the selection of Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (seven matches, nine wickets, best 4-44) and Abdul Razzaq (three ODIs, four wickets and 130 runs) is not really justified and requires a much improved show from the two all-rounders in the future games.

Upcoming paceman Mohammad Aamir, off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and batsman Umar Akmal rightly deserved a place in the teams after having proved themselves in the recent matches.

The selectors also decided to give another chance to Faisal Iqbal who was last selected for the incomplete Test against Sri Lanka, held in Lahore during March but could not bat after the match was abandoned due to a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team. Also back in the Test squad are seasoned leg-spinner Danish Kaneria, young wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed and pacer Abdur Rauf.

Meanwhile, Iqbal warned all the players that a below par show from any of them could well see them returning home in the midst of the series. He also said that every player including the skipper had to perform well to retain his place in the team.

Seven players who got places in all the three squads are Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Umar Akmal, Umar Gul and Imran Farhat.

Younis will lead Pakistan in the Tests and the ODIs while all-rounder Shahid Afridi will be the skipper for the Twenty20 games.

Squads

ODI (16 members) Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Younis Khan (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz.

Twenty20 (15 members) Khalid Latif, Imran Nazir, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi (captain),Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Aamir, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir.

Test squad (18 members) Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan (captain), Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Abdur Rauf, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed.