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Pakistan drops Akhtar, Gul for Zimbabwe one-day series

January 13, 2008 19:09 IST
Pakistani selectors have dropped fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul for the one-day home series against Zimbabwe.

The experienced bowlers have not been included in a list of 21 players invited for a conditioning camp from Jan. 15 in Lahore.

"They will not be considered for the one-dayers against Zimbabwe because they have to prove their match fitness," chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed told Reuters on Sunday.

Ahmed said it was board policy that Akhtar and Gul had to prove their match fitness in a domestic tournament following the Zimbabwe series.

Gul was sent back from the recent tour of India due to a back injury while Akhtar struggled with his fitness in the series.

Akhtar had made a comeback to the national team in India after serving a 13-months ban for indiscipline.

The selectors have picked a number of young players for the camp while axing some of the senior players including Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Sami, Shahid Afridi and Abdul Rehman who went to India.

Pakistan play Zimbabwe in the first one-day international on Jan 21st.

Pakistan squad (probable): Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Shadab Kabir, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naveed Latif, Kamran Akmal, M. Salman Ahmed, Rao Iftikhar, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Mansoor Amjad, Abdur Rauf, Rauf Akbar, Junaid Zia, Wahab Riaz, Anwar Ali, Tahir Khan, Saeed Ajmal. (Editing by Peter Rutherford)

Source: REUTERS
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