Pakistan announce World Cup squad; Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal miss out

Pakistan will be led by Misbah-ul-Haq at the World Cup

Pakistan have announced their 15-man squad for the upcoming World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. As was expected, the squad doesn’t include off-spinner Saeed Ajmal after he was banned from bowling in international cricket due to an illegal action last September.

Umar Gul also misses out, which is a surprise considering he has been one of Pakistan’s premier performers in limited-overs cricket over the past few years.

Mohammad Hafeez, however, has been included in the squad despite being banned for the same reason as Ajmal, and will participate in the mega event purely as a batsman.

The only changes from Pakistan’s most recent ODI series against New Zealand are that the trio of Sohaib Maqsood, Junaid Khan and Ehsan Adil make a return after not featuring in the New Zealand series. They missed the series due to injury but have now recuperated and are fit to take part.

Pakistan’s opening game of the World Cup is against arch-rivals India at the Adelaide Oval on February 15.

Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Younis Khan, Harris Sohail, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz