Sohail dropped

January 14: Aamir Sohail has been constantly at loggerheads with the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB officials and did not attend the condit...

January 14: Aamir Sohail has been constantly at loggerheads with the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB officials and did not attend the conditioning camp in Karachi. He had also declined to lead the team mid-way through the home series against Zimbabwe which Pakistan lost last month.

A PCB announcement from its Lahore headquarters said the team was chosen by the three-member national selection committee headed by Wasim Bari after assessing the performances of the players at the Karachi camp.

Wicket-keeper Moin Khan will be Akram8217;s deputy. The announcement of the team comes even while the Pakistan government and PCB are assessing the security situation in India in the wake of Shiv Sena threats of preventing the series.

Except Sohail, all leading Pakistani cricketers are in the team including veteran Salim Malik, the most experienced among the current lot, who is also facing an agonising inquiry into the allegations of betting and match-fixing levelled against him by three australians 8212; Mark Waugh, Shane Warne and Tim May.

The players were selected from the 22-probables who attended a short coaching camp under the stewardship of coach Javed Miandad.

The Pakistan team is scheduled to reach Delhi on January 21 to begin its 75-day tour, spread over two legs. It was learnt that PCB has already approached the Indian High Commission here to seek visas for the team members, including the coach, manager and physio.

PCB chief Khalid Mohammad had, however, said earlier in the day that the final decision about going ahead with the tour rested with the government in view of the recent incident of pitch-digging by the Sena activists at New Delhi8217;s Ferozeshah Kotla.

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PCB has sent a special representative Brig Saeed Ahmed Rafi to India to make an assessment of the security arrangements and report back.

Rafi8217;s report alonwith that of the Pakistan High Commissioner will form the basis for taking decision on the tour.

The team

Wasim Akram capt, Moin Khan vice-capt 8211; wicket-keeper, Saeed Anwar, Wajahatullah Wasti, Muhammad Naveed, Ijaz Ahmed, Salim Malik, Inzamam-ul Haq, Yousuf Youhana, Shahid Afridi, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar, Azhar Mahmood, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Ahmed and Nadeem Khan.

Reserves: Rashid Latif, Muhammad Akram and Shahid Nazir.