Pakistan drop Afridi, Umar Akmal

[Unsaid words]

Pakistan's selectors met in Lahore on Monday to trim the 29 probables - Umar Gul was unavailable because of injury - down to 15 for the Champions Trophy, as well as the ODIs in Ireland and Scotland.

The PCB also named Trent Woodhill, a former assistant coach of New Zealand, as their batting coach for three weeks during the tournament in England.
"Afridi had been selected as a bowling allrounder but he was not up to the mark and couldn't score at crucial occasions so we had to left him out," chief selector Qasim said. "His career is not finished, if he performs at domestic level, he can stage a comeback."
Afridi had been dropped from Pakistan's squad for the ODI series in India in December 2012, but was chosen for the trip to South Africa because of his skill as a legspinner. He failed to take a wicket in 37 overs, though, and scored 126 runs in four innings with a high score of 88. Since the start of 2012, Afridi's taken only 15 wickets in 21 ODIs, and five of those came in one game against Afghanistan. His batting average during this period is 19.

Squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Misbah ul Haq (capt), Shoaib Malik, Asad Shafiq, Saeed Ajmal, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Asad Ali, Wahab Riaz, Umar Amin, Abdur Rehman, Ehsan Adil.

[~Anjana~]

:up