Yasir Arafat and Abdur Rehman confirmed as Pakistan replacement players for ICC Champions Trophy

The Technical Committee of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 has approved Yasir Arafat and Abdur Rehman as replacement players in Pakistan's ICC Champions Trophy squad following the withdrawal of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif after the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the latter duo had failed a drugs test for a banned substance.

All-rounder Arafat and left-arm spinner Rehman, who are expected to travel to India as soon as possible, are the fifth and sixth players respectively to be approved as replacements during the tournament and take the tally of new players called up for Pakistan to three. They follow Faisal Iqbal into the squad after he stepped in for the suspended Inzamam-ul-Haq.

The other replacements called up so far have been the Zimbabwe duo of Tafadzwa Mufambisi and Gary Brent, who replaced Vusi Sibanda (unable to secure release from a club cricket contract in Australia) and Terry Duffin (illness), while Australia's Dan Cullen was called up for Stuart Clark (thigh injury).

Pakistan's first match of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 is against Sri Lanka in Jaipur on Tuesday. The match is a day-night clash that is scheduled to get underway at 1430 local time. The two sides are part of Group B which also includes New Zealand and South Africa. Group A is made up of Australia, India, England and the West Indies and only the top two sides from each group are able to reach the semi-finals.

The Technical Committee of the ICC Champions Trophy 2006 is made of the following personnel: David Richardson (chairman, ICC representative), Campbell Jamieson (IDI representative), Ian Bishop (independent nomination), Rameez Raja (independent nomination), MP Pandove (BCCI representative), Prof. R Shetty (tournament director).