LAHORE, Oct 11: Former captain Shahbaz Ahmad Thursday staged an expected comeback when an 18-member squad was announced here for next month’s Champions Trophy.

The striker, who was associated with the national team as one of the three coaches before being called up by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) as probable, will be representing the country after more than three years.

The mercurial but controversial forward, who will play under the captaincy of Mohammad Sarwar, last played for Pakistan in 1998 at Utrecht World Cup where team finished a poor fifth.

The six-nation tournament will be staged in Rotterdam between Nov 3 and 11.

Apart from Shahbaz, who has replaced Khalid, Salman Akbar, Ali Raza, Imran Rasool and Naveed Iqbal have also earned selectors’ nod.

Salman has been brought in after vacuum created by the former skipper and goalkeeper, Ahmad Alam. Ali Raza has been included in place of injured Zeeshan Ahsraf, Ghazanfar Ali has been replaced by Imran, while Mohammad Irfan has been axed to accommodate Naveed Iqbal.

The team was announced after the sessions which were followed by meeting chaired by PHF president, Gen Aziz Khan.

Coach Hanif Khan, who is also a national selector, was of the view that a 70 percent Shahbaz was useful than a 100 percent raw player.

Different combinations were tried during camp training and concerted efforts made to enhance the performance of the team, the coach said.

Chief selector, Col S.K. Tressler (retd), said Ahmad’s replacement Mohammad Qasim had been with the team for the last four years but agreed the defence of the team had to work hard at the Champions Trophy.

Selector Shahnaz Sheikh said thorough discussions were held on the performance of goalkeepers and felt that they needed to improve their skills. He said Shahbaz had been included to release pressure on the forwards.

The team leaves for Rotterdam on Oct 28.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Mohammad Qasim, Salman Akbar

Full-backs: Ali Raza, Tariq Imran, Sohail Abbas

Half-backs: Mohammad Usman, Mohammad Saqlain, Waseem Ahmad, Dilawar Hussain, Imran Rasool

Forwards: Mohammad Nadeem (vice-captain), Mudassir Ali, Atif Bashir, Mohammad Sarwar (captain), Kashif Jawwad, Shahbaz Ahmad, Mohammad Shabbir, Naveed Iqbal

Stand-byes: Ejaz Rasool (goalkeeper), Asim Chohan (full-back), Ghazanfar Ali, Imran Yousuf (half-backs), Sameer Husain, Rehan Butt, Khalid Saleem.