No place for Misbah in Pak teams; Farhat back

Misbah does not feature in any of the three Pakistan squads announced for the series of four one-dayers and two Twenty20 matches in Abu Dhabi and Dubai from November 3, and for the Test tour of New Zealand immediately thereafter.

Chief selector Iqbal Qasim justified Misbah’s axing, saying the player needed rest to refresh himself and come back stronger. Misbah, 35, got the axe for the first time since his 2007 comeback to the national team.

“You say we have dropped him but we have rested him and a couple of other players under a rotation policy we want to pursue vigorously keeping in mind the talent we have and the 2011 World Cup,” Qasim said.

The selectors reposed confidence in opener Imran Farhat once again, although he has not played for Pakistan since joining the Indian Cricket League in 2007.

The squads: One-dayers: Younis Khan (capt), Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Muhammad Aamer, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz.

Twenty20: S Afridi (capt), K Latif, Imran Nazir, U Akmal, S Malik, K Akmal, A Razzaq, Rana Naved, U Gul, Md Aamer, Rao Iftikhar, S Ajmal, I Farhat, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir.

Tests: Y Khan (capt), S Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, I Farhat, Md Yousuf, S Malik, F Alam, Faisal Iqbal, K Akmal, Danish Kaneria, S Ajmal, Yasir Arafat, U Gul, Md Asif, Md Aamer, Abdul Rauf, U Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed.