Shoaib and Sami in one-day squad to play India

Yasir Hameed: dropped or rested? © AFP

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Sami, both of whom missed the recent Test against Sri Lanka for fitness reasons, have been named in the Pakistan squad that will travel to India to play in a one-day international at Kolkata on November 13. The match is being held to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.

The only surprise in the team was the exclusion of Yasir Hameed, with Aamer Bashir being selected in his place. The 32-year-old Bashir is a right-hand batsman from Bahawalpur, and has been in stirring form the last couple of seasons for Multan, who he captains. Taufeeq Umar also made a comeback to the team.

Interestingly, according to The Dawn, conflicting reasons were given for Hameed's sacking. Wasim Bari, the chief selector, said that Hameed had been dropped for his poor form in the recent series against Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, Inzamam-ul-Haq, the team's captain, said that Hameed was merely being rested so that he would be fresh for the series against Australia later this year.

Squad Imran Farhat, Taufeeq Umar, Shoaib Malik, Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Sami, Naved-ul-Hasan, Shoaib Akhtar, Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Riaz Afridi, Aamer Bashir.