The one-day career of senior batsman Younis Khan appears to be over with Pakistan’s national selection committee ignoring him for the five-match series against South Africa in the United Arab Emirates.
The 16-member squad announced today for the series in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah also does not include seniors like Shoaib Malik and Kamran Akmal who have been ignored by the selectors since after the ICC Champions Trophy in England this year.
Younis, one of Pakistan’s most prolific batsmen, has also not been considered for one-day matches since he last played in the series in South Africa early this year.
“The idea is to build up a balanced side for the 2015 World Cup with emphasis on specialist players for this format,” one national selector said.
He said the plan was to build and strengthen specialist Test, one-day and T20 squads since the ICC Test championship was also now confirmed.
The other players in the Test squad not retained for the one-day series include left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar who took five wickets in his debut Test and openers, Khurrum Manzoor the man of the match in the first Test with a hundred and debutant, Shaan Masood who scored 75.
Pakistan won the first Test against South Africa this week in Abu Dhabi with major contributions from these three players.
The national selectors, however, recalled all-rounder, Muhammad Hafeez for the matches from Oct 30 to Nov 11 in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Dubai.
Hafeez was dropped recently for the Test series against the South Africans.
The ODI squad includes senior all-rounder Shahid Afridi and four left-arm pacers, Muhammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanvir.
Pakistan ODI squad: Ahmed Shahzad, Nasir Jamshed, Muhammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq (Capt), Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Muhammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanvir.
