Shoaib fails to make Windies tour party?
PTI/CricInfo, Karachi
Not satisfied with the fitness level of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, Pakistan cricket selectors have decided to rest him for next month's West Indies tour while including former captain Moin Khan in a 17-member squad, which would be officially announced on Monday.Selectors also left out unfit paceman Mohammad Sami and included another seamer Shabbir Ahmed in the squad which was finalised Friday evening. The list of players has been submitted to Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan, who will announce the squad after getting clearance from an ad-hoc committee, PCB spokesman said. The ad-hoc committee, as per PCB constitution, has the powers to make changes in the team. The selectors have also dropped Mohammad Hafeez who toured India earlier this month as a one-day specialist. He has been replaced by Yasir Hameed who was dropped after the Bangalore Test for the six-match one-day series. The Pakistan team has been selected basically for the one-day matches to be played on May 18 (at St. Vincent) and for St. Lucia's double-header on May 21 and 22. If required, changes would be made in the team for the two Tests to be played between May 26 and 30 at Barbados and between June 3 and 7 at Jamaica. Shoaib and Sami have been overlooked purely on medical grounds. Sami is likely to join the team for the first Test. In a surprise move, the selectors decided to bring back Moin, the wicketkeeper, after his blistering form in the in the Twenty20 domestic competition. Shoaib Malik was also picked despite the latest controversy surrounding forfeiting a domestic game. Moin, who last represented Pakistan in October last year against Sri Lanka, was rewarded for his fantastic domestic performances -- an aggregate of 730 runs, including three centuries. He also smashed two hundreds in the Twenty20 tournament and was picked as the second wicketkeeper behind Kamran Akmal. LIKELY SQUAD Salman Butt, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Hameed, Younis Khan, Inzamamul Haq (captain), Yousuf Youhana, Asim Kamal, Shoaib Malik, Moin Khan, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Navedul Hasan, Shabbir Ahmed, Shahid Nazir, Rao Iftikhar, Arshad Khan, Danish Kaneria.
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