Pakistan Announce ODI Squad for Sri Lanka Series

Lahore: Pakistan on Friday announced a 16-man squad for the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka staring later this month.

The 33-year-old, the tallest international cricketer ever at seven feet one inch, injured his hip at the World Cup in March, forcing him to miss Pakistan's crucial quarter-final against eventual champions and co-hosts Australia.

But Irfan's return still does not guarantee a full-strength Pakistan pace attack, as partner Wahab Riaz missed out with a bowling hand injury sustained during the second Test against Sri Lanka in Colombo last week.

Also ruled out of the series was spinning allrounder Haris Sohail, who injured his knee on the tour of Sri Lanka, missing all three Tests.

Newcomers Mukhtar Ahmed and Bilal Asif were included in the one-day team for the first time.

Mukhtar, 22, has played three Twenty20 internationals this year while Asif, 29, scored a hundred in the final of a non-first class domestic tournament in April.

Missing from the squad are batsman Umar Akmal and paceman Junaid Khan. Junaid played the first two Tests of the ongoing series in Sri Lanka but made little impact.

Pakistan need to win the Sri Lanka series to have any chance of qualifying for the 2017 Champions Trophy in England.

Pakistan are currently ninth in the one-day rankings and need to move up a place in order to play the Champions Trophy.

The five-match series starts in Dambulla on July 11. The remaining matches will be held in Pallekele (July 15), Colombo (July 19 and 22) and Hambantota (July 26)

Pakistan will also play two Twenty20 matches against Sri Lanka for which a squad will be announced later.

Squad: Azhar Ali (captain), Mukhtar Ahmed, Ahmed Shezad, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Bilal Asif, Immad Wasim, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Irfan, Ehsan Adil, Rahat Ali

Scores	Upcoming	Results
South Africa vs Pakistan - 3rd ODI 4th Test - Australia v India - December 26-30, 23:30 GMT 1st Test - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan - December 26-30, 07:30 GMT 3rd ODI - Zimbabwe v Afghanistan at Harare Afghanistan won by 8 wickets (with 139 balls remaining) 3rd T20I - West Indies v Bangladesh at St Vincent Bangladesh won by 80 runs

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