Pakistan Squad for ODI Series against the Kiwis

So the PCB finally announced the ODI squad which is due to take on the demoralized Kiwis in a 6 match series, after much drama and speculation. When the team was announced for the T20 and Test leg of the tour, there were a lot of rumors doing the round that Shahid Afridi might be replaced as Pakistan captain if Misbah ul Haq’s test team manages to do well against New Zealand. Now, we can lay all those rumors to rest because Shahid Afridi has been retained as captain despite a lot of pressure on him.

Afridi - retained as captain

Now let's have a look at the squad;

Shahid Afridi (captain), Misbah ul Haq (Vice Captain), Kamran Akmal (wk), Muhammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shahzad, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Tanvir Ahmed, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul.

The big news obviously is the comeback of under fire (for non-cricketing related activities) wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal. Khatmal as i like to call him, was left out of the Pakistan squad for the series against South Africa due to reasons that were obvious to the aam-aadmi but unknown to the PCB.

Apparently, he was not cleared by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit for his alleged involvement in spot-fixing. There was a lot of hoopla with denials and allegations but none of them have been proven so far which is why we see him coming back in place of his brother Adnan Akmal in limited overs cricket.

Two glaring omissions i would like to point out are those of Mohammad Yousuf and Fawad Alam. Yousuf was horribly out of form and practice, plus his fitness is very questionable. He has been playing in Bangladesh to improve his chances of making the World Cup squad but it is highly unlikely that he will make it.

The absence of Fawad Alam is more puzzling since he was Pakistan's 3rd highest scorer during the last year in ODI cricket. The man has his critics but given the opportunity he has always performed well, but i think he was made a sacrificial lamb to get Misbah into the team.

The ODI series is due to begin on Saturday, 22nd January and will be an important baro-meter of where Pakistan's preparation for the upcoming World Cup stands.