Younis dropped again

The Pakistan team management continued to play with the career of highly-talented Younis Khan who was dropped from the Test team against Bangladesh.

Younis's ouster was a major surprise in an otherwise expected squad that included two new caps Taufiq Umer and Shoaib Malik.

The 23-year-old Pathan had a successful tour of England where he had scores of 58, 1, 65 and 17 in tight and testing situations and was unlucky to be wrongly given out three times.

The youngster had to face the same fate in the home series against England last year when he was not even considered for a place in the 16 despite scoring 23, 32 not out, 116 and 0 in his previous appearances on the tour to Sri Lanka.

Younis was recalled for the New Zealand tour earlier this year and his performance was a slap on the faces of the selectors.

In Pakistan's Auckland Test victory, he scored 91 and 149 not out and followed up with 0, 36 and 4 to aggregate 280 at an average of 70. But Pakistan manager Yawar Saeed defended Younis's exclusion while admitting that it had been a very tough decision to make.

"We decided against playing six batsmen and strengthened our bowling because of the scorching heat. Naturally, one batsman had to sit out and unfortunately it was Younis," he said.

He added that the team management decided to follow a set policy while picking five batsmen. "Younis bats at No 6 while Faisal Iqbal is a No 3 batsman. Therefore, the axe had to fall on Younis."

Faisal is a promising No 3 batsman who rose to the occasion in New Zealand when he blasted two half centuries in his debut series. However, the 19-year-old struggled to maintain the same form in the seaming English conditions scoring 16 and 14.

Meanwhile, Pakistan team's training camp for the forthcoming one-day series against New Zealand will be held at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore between Sept 6 and 16, Yawar said.

Yawar said the selection committee would name probables who will join the present 16 and the the team for one-day series was expected to be announced Sept 16.

The Black Caps arrive in Karachi on Sept 15.