Junaid Zia recalled to ODI squad for New Zealand series

Pakistan today named a 15-man squad for the rescheduled one-day series against New Zealand, starting on November 29. The surprise inclusion was Junaid Zia, who was selected against Bangladesh and then named captain of the emerging team. Shoaib Akhtar has been picked, but will not be available for selection for the first two matches due to a ban.

Aamer Sohail, chairman of selectors, said: "This is the best combination we can offer to the team management that was consulted before the squad was finalised."

On the inclusion of Junaid, Sohail said: "He was one of the star performers of the inter-departmental qualifying tournament taking 35 wickets and scoring over 150 runs. In addition to this, he was also adjudged Player of the Series in Sri Lanka, where the Pakistan Emerging team won the tournament. In addition to this, the team management also requested for his inclusion."

The first two matches of the series will be played at Lahore on November 29 and December 1 while Faisalabad will host the third match on December 3. The last two games will be played at Rawalpindi on December 5 and 7.

Squad Inzamam-ul-Haq (capt), Imran Farhat, Saleem Elahi, Yasir Hameed, Yousuf Youhana, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Moin Khan (wkt), Danish Kaneria, Shabbir Ahmed, Mohammad Sami, Shoaib Akhtar, Misbah-ul-Haq and Junaid Zia.