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May 08, 2007

Pakistan have named a 16-man squad led by Shoaib Malik for their three-ODI Series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi. This is Pakistan's first One Day Tournament after their sad World Cup campaign. The squad consists of two new faces in Fawad Alam and Najaf Shah.

The Abu Dhabi Series is now going to be played between 18th and 22nd instead of the original May 9th start. The postponement was because of the delayed arrival of the Sri Lankan team back home due to the aerial attacks carried out by the LTTE. The Pakistan team will be without Inzamam-ul-Haq, who has retired from the limited overs version while Younis Khan has decided to skip the tournament. Also out of the reckoning is fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who is having a knee injury. Among the World Cup Squad, Azhar Mahmood and Danish Kaneria will also be missing the Abu Dhabi Series due to their county commitments.

The biggest news of this Pakistan Squad are the comebacks of their strike bowler Mohammad Asif and Abdul Razzaq, who missed the World Cup due to their elbow injury and knee injury respectively. The newly formed Selection Committee has also gone one step ahead in naming the pace man as the Vice-Captain. Also making a comeback is stylish opener Salman Butt. Yasir Arafat, Naved-ul-Hasan have been dropped. Coming to the new faces, Fawad Alam is a left arm spinner who got selected along with another left arm Abdur Rehman. The other youngster Najaf Shah is a left arm quick. Both these players are in their early twenties.

Pakistan Squad for Abu Dhabi: Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Nazir, Salman Butt, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal (Wicket Keeper), Shoaib Malik (Captain), Yasir Hameed, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Iftikhar Anjum, Mohammad Asif (Vice-Captain), Najaf Shah, Fawad Alam, Abdur Rehman

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