Islamabad: Pakistan cannot find a replacement for suspended offspinner Saeed Ajmal and has instead recalled left-arm spinner Raza Hasan for the limited-overs series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates next month.
Ajmal, the world's top-ranked one-day international bowler, was suspended by the ICC on Sept. 9 for an illegal bowling action.
Pakistan chief selector Moin Khan says on Wednesday that most of the potential offspin replacements also have suspect bowling actions, and "could earn a bad name for the country if included in the national team."
Adnan Rasool was tipped to replace Ajmal, but the offspinner was reported by match officials while representing Lahore Lions in the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 in India.
The 22-year-old Hasan represented Pakistan in T20s two years ago, and took six wickets in seven matches.
Younis Khan dropped
Pakistan Wednesday dropped experienced but out-of-form batsman Younis Khan from the one-day squad for next month's limited-over series against Australia in the United Arab Emirates. The Pakistan Cricket Board selection committee headed by former captain Moin Khan announced separate squads for the only Twenty20 international in Dubai on October 5 and the three subsequent one-day internationals.
The squad for the two Tests will be announced later. Younis Khan, 36, has had an extended run of poor form in the one-day format, with his last hundred coming in 2008. He was included in the one-day squad for the Sri Lanka series last month after a gap of 17 months, but managed just three in the first match before he was forced to return home after his nephew died.
"We have not shut the doors on Younis and if the selected players don't perform we can always review them," said Khan. The serious challenge for selectors was to find a replacement for off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, who was suspended from all international cricket after his action was found to be illegal.
Squad: (Twenty20): Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shahzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Umar Amin, Sohaib Maqsood, Awais Zia, Saad Nasim, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, Bilawal Bhatti, Anwar Ali, Sohail Tanvir.
One-day: Misbah-ul Haq (captain), Ahmed Shahzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Fawad Alam, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Sohaib Maqsood, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Raza Hasan, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan.in 2012 but managed only 47 runs before being discarded. His recent form in the domestic Twenty20 tournament in which he hit a century earned him a recall.
Pakistan and Australia play the only Twenty20 in Dubai on October 5 while the three one-day internationals are in Sharjah (October 7), Dubai (October 10) and Abu Dhabi (October 13).
