PAKISTAN: CRICKET - Pakistani pace bowler Mohammad Asif recalled to the squad for this month's one-day series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi

Pakistani pace bowler Mohammad Asif has been recalled to the squad for this month's one-day series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi. Asif, who missed the World Cup due to an elbow injury, was included in a 16-man squad for the series to be played from May 18 -22. Asif and fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar tested positive for nandrolone last October but a Pakistan Cricket Board appeals panel cleared them of doping offence and overturned their bans. The squad also includes uncapped players Fawad Alam and Najaf Shah. "Adhoc committee has confirmed Mohammad Asif as vice-captain for this series. We will watch him series by series. The captain, the selectors and the adhoc committee, everyone was for Asif's inclusion in the team because he had been one of the best performers at Pakistan team," Dr.Naseem Ashraf, chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board told journalists in the eastern city of Lahore on Monday (May 7). The Sri Lanka series will be Shoaib Malik's first as captain after he replaced senior batsman, Inzamam-ul-Haq, who stepped down as skipper and retired from one-day internationals during the World Cup. Pakistan, under Inzamam, were eliminated in the first round of the World Cup after losing to hosts West Indies and Ireland. Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Imran Nazir, Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Fawad Alam, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Mohammad Sami, Najaf Shah.

ITN Source | May 8, 2007

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