LAHORE, 3 May 2005 — Pakistani selectors yesterday left out unfit fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar for their tour of the West Indies this month but recalled fit-again pacer Shabbir Ahmed.
Akhtar, 29, who missed Pakistan’s tour of India in March-April due to a hamstring injury, was still found lacking on fitness while Mohammad Sami, recuperating from a knee operation, might join the team for the Test series.
Sami was ruled out of the one-day series.
Off-spinning all-rounder Shoaib Malik was picked for the squad but will miss the first Test as he serves out a one-match ban for deliberately throwing a domestic cricket game last week.
“We have acted on the medical reports of Akhtar which said that he needed time to recover and so did Sami,” Pakistan’s chief selector Wasim Bari told AFP.
Another off-spinning all-rounder, Mohammad Hafeez, and opener Taufiq Umar were the only two changes in the team which toured India.
Also staging a comeback was 24-year-old batsman Bazid Khan, son of former captain Majid Khan, dropped after he played two one-day matches last year.
Another former Pakistan captain, Moin Khan, who was widely tipped to earn a recall after his six hundreds in domestic matches, failed to get the selectors’ nod.
Inzamam ul-Haq, who has been given an extension as captain until April 2006, will lead the side announced for both one-day series and Tests.
Pakistan play three one-day games on May 18, 21 and 22, before playing two Tests on their tour of the Caribbean starting on May 11.
