Butt dropped from Abu Dhabi ODIs

Salman Butt, the Pakistani opener, has been dropped from the 14-man squad for the two ODIs against India to be played at Abu Dhabi on April 18 and 19. The selectors also named the Pakistan 'A' squad for the six-nation Euro-Asia one-day tournament also to be played at Abu Dhabi between April 22 to May 5.

Butt was part of the Pakistan squad that returned triumphant from Sri Lanka and played in the first two ODIs. Since scoring a century against India at Peshawar, his form slipped, with scores of 0, 0, 13, 26 and 4.

Besides Butt, Umar Gul, the medium pacer and Tahir Khan, the off spinner were also dropped from the senior squad but were included in the 'A' team, which will be captained by Hasan Raza. Abdur Rehman, the 26-year-old left-arm spinner, has been included in Pakistan's senior squad.

While India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka will field their 'A' squads, the other participants, namely, Ireland, Scotland and hosts UAE will field their national teams.

Pakistan - Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Asif, Rao Iftikhar Anjum, R Naved-ul-Hasan, Faisal Iqbal, Abdul Rehman.

Pakistan 'A' - Hasan Raza (capt), Yasir Hameed, Taufeeq Umar, Mohammad Hafeez, Bazid Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Yousuf, Mansoor Amjad, Zulqarnain Haider (wk), Tahir Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Irshad, Yasir Arafat and Samiullah Niazi.