ODIs beckon veteran Younus again

Batsman recalled in 16-man squad against England

KARACHI: Pakistan’s premier Test batsman Younus Khan was recalled in the 16-member ODI squad of Pakistan to take on England in the four-match series beginning from November 11 in Abu Dhabi.

The 37-year-old Younus has time and again expressed his desire to be part of the one-day squad until he retires, but was sidelined for several of the series in the last few years in favour of youngsters.

However, the national selection committee headed by Haroon Rasheed has decided to grant Younus his wish, despite head coach Waqar Younis opposing the idea.

Such was the deadlock on the issue that Haroon had to fly out to Dubai before finalising the squad.

“Keeping in view his current form, Younus has been included in the squad to lend stability to the middle order batting,” said the chief selector. “Now it’s up to Younus to prove that he can meet the demands of the modern one-day cricket and play according to the team management’s game plan.”

Babar Azam has been called back to the ODI fold as well, while left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, who missed the flight for the first Test against England, has got a maiden call-up to the ODI squad with Imad Wasim out due to a fracture sustained while playing a Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match for Islamabad.

Middle-order batsman Sohaib Maqsood was dropped after a lacklustre tour of Zimbabwe, while Asad Shafiq was also omitted as the selectors decided to include all-rounder Aamer Yamin despite the return of fit-again Anwar Ali.

ODI squad

The chosen 16

Azhar Ali (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Younus Khan, Shoaib Malik, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Aamer Yamin, Yasir Shah, Zafar Gohar, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Rahat Ali, Bilal Asif 

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2015.

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