Younis Khan to play for Surrey

Younis Khan, the former Pakistan captain, has been signed up by Surrey for the ongoing domestic season in England. Younis will represent Surrey in all competitions until mid July and becomes their second overseas player after Andrew Symonds. He is currently serving an indefinite ban imposed on him by the PCB for disciplinary reasons, and his appeal against that decision was recently postponed to the end of this month.

Younis has been among Pakistan's most reliable top-order batsmen, averaging 50.09 in 63 Tests and scoring more than 5000 runs in 202 ODIs. He led them to victory in the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 and announced his decision to retire from that format in international cricket immediately after.

"I am confident that bringing a world class player such as Younis Khan to Surrey will have a very positive effect on the side," Chris Adams, Surrey's Professional Cricket Manager, said.

"As well as benefiting from the weight of runs we hope he will bring, we have a number of young batsman who will doubtless benefit greatly from being able to train and play alongside him. In terms of the FPt20, the experience and skills that saw him lead Pakistan to the ICC World Twenty20 title in 2009 are sure to greatly help us in our pursuit of the trophy."

Surrey, however, confirmed they will be without the services of Piyush Chawla, the India legspinner, after his No Objection Certificate to participate in county cricket was revoked by the BCCI. The NOC's issued to all Indian cricketers contracted with the BCCI had been revoked in March, leading to Virender Sehwag missing out for Northants. Surrey also confirmed that that the recent talks they had been holding with Brian Lara had not come to fruition, as a result of which he would not be joining them.

Younis' joining the club remains subject to him obtaining the necessary visa documentation and the improvement in conditions for air travel to the UK. It is expected Younis will join Surrey in a week's time.