Sohail Tanvir, a Rawalpindi allrounder, has been called up to the Pakistan Twenty20 squad as a replacement to Shoaib Akhtar, who was sent home from South Africa after being involved in a dressing-room scuffle with team-mate Mohammad Asif.

The ICC's technical committee approved Tanvir as a replacement for Shoaib on the basis of "exceptional circumstances". A statement released by the ICC cited the following reasons for the approval: "the incident and disciplinary action taken by the Pakistan board is not related to the matches in the event; the tournament has not commenced; and there is a precedent to support the replacement."

Tanvir, 22, who bowls left-arm medium-fast, played only two matches for the Rawalpindi Rams in Pakistan's domestic Twenty20 tournament in the last season. He has scored 84 runs and taken no wickets in the 10 Twenty20 games he has played in the last three years. But he impressed national selectors in a series of training camps and practice matches over the summer and was said to be close to a place in the original squad. He is highly-rated by Aaqib Javed, coach at the National Cricket Academy, who says his wrong-foot action and pace are deceptive.

Shoaib was handed an indefinite suspension after he allegedly hit Asif with a bat. He was already on six weeks' probation following a breach of discipline last month after he left a training camp in Karachi without informing officials.

Pakistan's first match of the tournament is against Scotland in Durban on September 12.