Pakistan turn to youngsters for Sri Lanka series

Karachi: Pakistan opted for youth over experience when the 15-man squad for the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates was announced on Thursday.

The selectors ignored senior batsmen Younus Khan and Shoaib Malik as well as seasoned pace bowler Umar Gul for the series which starts on December 18. But they have kept faith with opener Sharjeel Khan, blooded in the T20 series against Sri Lanka, and middle order batsman Haris Sohail who has played just four ODIs and one T20 for Pakistan. Gul, Pakistan`s most experienced paceman with over 300 wickets in test and one-day internationals, is recovering from knee surgery in May but has appeared in a couple of domestic T20 and one-day matches. He had a fitness test recently but it was not enough to get him a call-up for the Sri Lanka series. Also sidelined is Malik who had to return home from the one-day series in South Africa through injury. Pakistan will also be without tall left arm pacer Muhammad Irfan who has not recovered from a hip injury picked up against South Africa in the UAE last month. Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Muhammad Hafeez (vice-capt), Ahmed Shahzad, Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti, Anwar Ali, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Abdul Rehman and Saeed Ajmal.