PCB announce squad for T20 World Cup

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Friday announced a 15-member squad for the Twenty20 World Cup. PCB did not name the captain of the side.

The national selection committee recalled Muhammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq and picked under-19 all-rounder Hammad Azam in the side.

The squad also include the trio of Shahid Afridi, Kamran and Umar Akmal.

Speculation is high that all-rounder Abdul Razzaq or opener Salman Butt could be handed over the reins of the team.

The tournament will be held in West Indies from April 30.

Squad: Muhammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Khalid Latif, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Yasir Arafat, Kamran Akmal, Saeed Ajmal, Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Hammad Azam.

Reserves: Muhammad Sami, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Naved Yasin, Raza Hasan, Shahzaib Hasan.

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Yousuf, Younis barred for life; Malik banned for 1 year

Pakistan Cricket Board on Wednesday indefinitely barred its former captains Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf from playing for the country and imposed one-year bans on Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan in the wake of the team's disastrous tour of Australia.

Pakistan were whitewashed in all three formats of the game in Australia and the PCB had set up an inquiry committee headed by Wasim Bari to probe the reasons for the debacle.

As recommended by the committee, former captain Shoaib Malik and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan were handed one-year bans.

The inquiry committee had recommended that Yousuf and Younis should no longer be part of the national team in any format because of their bad influence on the team and that Malik and Rana be banned for 12 months and fined 2 million rupees each.

The Akmal brothers Kamran and Umar and Afridi have been put on probation for six months besides being fined between Rs 2-3 million for indiscipline on the tour, the PCB statement said.

The punishments are set to impact the composition of Pakistan's World Twenty20 Championship.

This is the first time in Pakistan cricket history that the Board has taken such strong disciplinary action against so many players at one time.

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