Shoaib Akhtar ruled out of charity match

Shoaib Akhtar: out of the fundraiser © Getty Images Enlarge

Shoaib Akhtar has pulled out of the fundraising game between ICC XI and Asian XI to be played on at Melbourne on January 10. Shoaib ruled himself out after complaining of a hamstring injury.

"It's more sensible [to withdraw] rather than to just go in and rip my hamstring off and rip my back off and [be] out of the team for six months or a year," Shoaib said, according to a Reuters report. Shoaib played all three Tests in the recently concluded series against Australia, and was Pakistan's best bowler in terms of averages - his 11 wickets came at 30.36.

Earlier, it had been announced that Sachin Tendulkar would not bat in the match due to a tennis elbow injury. Despite the absence of these two players, a capacity crowd of 80,000 is expected to turn up for the game, which is in aid of the victims of the tsunami which affected 13 countries and killed over 150,000 people.