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Pak include
Kaneria and three injured players for WC |
February 14, 2007
 Leg
Spinner Danish Kaneria has earned a berth in the
15-man Pakistan World Cup Squad that was
announced on Tuesday. Three players have been
selected subject to their fitness. Shoaib Akhtar
who fears that he might miss out playing due to
a knee injury is one of those three players. The
other two are Umar Gul and Mohammad Asif.
Opening batsman Imran Farhat has failed to make
it due to his repeated failures in the recent
series, his place has gone to right hander Imran
Nazir. Left arm spinner Abdul Rehman has missed
out as Pakistan decided to go for Danish Kaneria,
the leg spinner. Kaneria despite being a strike
bowler for his team ever since making his debut
six seasons ago has got to play only 16 ODIs so
far! There is no place for Azhar Mahmood, who
was recalled into the side after two years.
Pakistan have named as many as five reserve
players for the World Cup. Fast bowlers
Mohammad Sami,
Shahid Nazir, all
rounder Azhar
Mahmood, opener
Salman Butt and wicket keeper, Zulqarnain
Haider are the five reserve players named by the
PCB. All the 15 players and the five reserve
players would be subjected to dope tests after
their arrival from South Africa. The results of
the test are expected to come by March 1st.
There are rumours that Shoaib Akhtar and
Mohammad Asif might still contain some portions
of the banned drug substance - nandrolone. Both
these bowlers were banned by the PCB after the
Champions Trophy but the bans were removed by
the board. Shahid Afridi will be missing the
first two matches of the World Cup due to the
ban he is facing after his behavior with a fan
during the 1st ODI against South Africa.
A training camp for the Pakistan Squad would
begin on February 20th. They are placed in Group
D that includes hosts West Indies and minnows -
Zimbabwe and Ireland. Pakistan play the opening
game of the World Cup, which is against the
hosts at Jamaica on the 13th of March.
Pakistan WC Squad :
Mohammad Hafeez,
Younis Khan (Vice
Captain), Mohammad
Yousuf,
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Captain),
Kamran Akmal
(WK), Yasir Arafat
(Replaced
Mohammad Asif),
Azhar Mahmood
(Replaced
Abdul Razzaq),
Naved-ul-Hasan,
Shoaib Malik,
Shahid Afridi,
Imran Nazir,
Mohammad Sami
(Replaced
Shoaib Akhtar),
Umar Gul,
Iftikhar Anjum,
Danish Kaneria
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