Hafeez dropped as Pakistan announce Test squad to face South Africa

Three players are expected to join the squad following a three day warm-up match that begins on October 8.

LAHORE: Having had a less than satisfactory tour of Zimbabwe, Pakistan announced their squad for the Test match series against world number one South Africa in UAE, dropping out-of-form opener Mohammad Hafeez from the 12 man squad.

Hafeez, 32, had a poor series in Zimbabwe, managing only 59 runs in four innings in Harare. A tour to South Africa earlier in the year returned only 43 runs as the team were white-washed 3-0.

Pakistan are due to take on the Proteas in Abu Dhabi on October 14 in their first Test. The second and final Test starts in Dubai from October 23.

On the other hand, underfire Misbahul Haq was last week retained as Test and one-day side captain.

Other notable absentees from the side are batsmen Nasir Jamshed and Asad Shafiq, bowlers Umar Gul and Wahab Riaz.

Three more players are expected to join the squad following a three-day warm-up match between Pakistan 'A' side and South Africa in Sharjah starting from October 8.

Pakistan and South Africa will also play five one-day and two Twenty20 internationals, for which squads will be named later.

Squad: Misbahul Haq (captain), Khurram Manzoor, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Umar Amin, Adnan Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar, Abdul Rehman, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali.