KARACHI: Former captain Mohammad Yousuf will not feature in the World Cup after Pakistan selectors left the batsman out of their 15-man squad announced on Tuesday. "It is very disappointing to not be picked for such a big event especially since I am fit and playing in domestic cricket," Yousuf told Reuters.
In pic: Mohammad Yousuf
The 36-year-old veteran of 90 tests and 288 one-day internationals played in the last three World Cups. "Only the selectors can explain the reason to omit me because I think I have still lot of cricket left in me at the international level," Yousuf said. The Pakistan Cricket Board has yet to announce who will captain the side in the Feb. 19-April 2 tournament being held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The squad includes all the players who will play a six-match one-day series against New Zealand under the captaincy of Shahid Afridi starting this month. Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram said he could not understand the wisdom behind not naming a captain. "It is a surprise to me they have announced the squad but not the captain. It sends out the wrong signals to the other players in the team," Akram told reporters on Tuesday.
Akram who played in Pakistan's 1992 World Cup-winning team and captained them to the 1999 final said it would not be a good idea to change the captain so close to the World Cup. "Regardless of how the team performs in New Zealand the captain should not be changed," Akram added.
The selectors did keep faith with 35-year-old fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who will be appearing in his fourth World Cup. Akhtar has been a regular feature of the T20 and ODI teams since last year and will lead a pace attack that also includes Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz. Pakistan are in Group A with Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Canada. They will play their group matches in Sri Lanka.
The 1992 World Cup champions were eliminated in the early rounds of the last two tournaments in South Africa and West Indies. Their 2007 World Cup campaign ended in tragedy as their coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room a day after the team were knocked out of the tournament by Ireland.
Pakistan squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir. -REUTERS
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