Pakistan have left out Shahid Afridi from the 14-man squad announced for
the first ODI against the West Indies. Shahid Nazir, despite impressing through the Test series, has also not been considered, alongside Faisal Iqbal and Samiullah Khan Niazi.
Afridi has been in desperately poor form through the year managing just
114 runs from 17 matches at an average of just over eight. His 14 wickets
have also come at a relatively high cost. Younis Khan will lead the team
in Rawalpindi in place of Inzamam-ul-Haq, who will be serving the final
part a four-match ban for his part in The Oval Test fiasco in August this
year. "He hasn't performed so well domestically," Wasim Bari, the chairman of selectors told Cricinfo. "But the door is open always and he can do well on the domestic circuit and make a comeback."
Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, overlooked for the ongoing Test series, has been
recalled, alongside Danish Kaneria, Yasir Hameed and Mohammad Sami. The
latter three were not in the squad for the Champions Trophy in India in
October.
Bari said that Kaneria was selected keeping in mind the team's future commitments in South Africa and the World Cup. "Anil Kumble has been successful in South Africa and we are going there soon so he might be a handy option in the ODI series there."
The West Indies have already announced their
one-day squad with Corey
Collymore, Fidel Edwards, Daren Ganga and Omari Banks returning home after
the Test series. Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Smith and Ian Bradshaw have
arrived as replacements.
The first in the five-match series will be played in Rawalpindi on
December 5, followed by the second at Faisalabad (Dec 7), third in Lahore
(Dec 10), fourth at Multan (Dec 13) and the final game in Karachi (Dec
16).
Squad: Younis Khan (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed,
Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Yousuf, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rao Iftikhar,
Umar Gul, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Danish Kaneria, Abdul
Rehman.