Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced 15-player squad for ICC World Cup 2011, going to be start from 19 February in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. But the name of captain for the team is not nominated yet. The team includes Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir, Ahmed Shehzad.
Experienced middle-order batsman Muhammad Yousaf and fast bowler Tanvir Ahmed have been dropped from the final squad. According to sources the captaincy all-rounder Shahid Afridi is dependent on the results of One-Day series against New Zealand. Chairman of PCB Ijaz Butt on said if any of the three suspended players are cleared of spot-fixing allegations they can be included in Pakistan’s squad for Mega event. ICC tribunal will announce the final verdict of the spot-fixing case on 5 February. Wicket keeper
Kamran Akmal, who was also under suspicion of match-fixing, was included after getting clearance from PCB and ICC, but all-rounder Shoaib Malik and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria failed to get clearance and are not the part of final squad.
The meeting of PCB selection committee held yesterday in Qazafi Stadium Lahore. The meeting was headed by Chief selector Moshin Khan in which Muhammad Ilyas, Azhar Khan and other assistant selectors also participated. The session continued for five hours. Muhammad Tanvir who is a part of Pakistani ODI squad for New Zealand series is the only change made by Pakistani selectors for the World Cup. Present ODI captain Shahid Afridi, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq and Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar are the only survivors of Pakistan’s runners-up finish in the 1999 World cup. Former players have criticized the PCB on the ground of not announcing the captain name.
Pakistan is placed in group ‘A’ with its rivals Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Canada and Kenya. Pakistan will play its first match against Kenya.
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