RAWALPINDI: National selectors sprung quite a few surprises here on Friday when they recalled all-rounder Shoaib Malik and wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal while omitting in-form Sarfraz Ahmed and senior batsman Younis Khan from the Pakistan squads for the upcoming Asia Cup and the ICC World Twenty20.

Fast bowler Mohammad Talha was named in both the squads after his impressive stint in the Test series against Sri Lanka last month.

The 25-year-old from Faisalabad, who is yet is to play in either of the two limited-overs formats, replaced Mohammad Irfan after the big left-arm speedster felt a recurrence of the hip injury while playing for Multan Tigers in the ongoing T20 Cup here.

Seasoned all-rounder Shoaib Malik, who is at the centre of a match-fixing controversy these days after his team Sialkot Stallions lost a key game against Karachi Dolphins in a mysterious fashion in the ongoing T20 Cup the other day, was a surprise inclusion in the squad for the ICC World Twenty20.

Malik who appears to be at the fag end of his career, has not given any notable performance during his outings for Pakistan in the past year or so and his selection ahead of senior batsman Younis Khan and talented all-rounder Anwar Ali is bound to raise eyebrows in the cricketing circles.

Pace-bowling all-rounder Anwar showed a lot of promise during his limited overs appearances against South Africa and Sri Lanka and is unlucky to miss out on World T20 selection. The inclusion of Sohail Tanvir, who has claimed a poor 32 wickets in 38 T20 Internationals so far, is also quite puzzling particularly after his ordinary show against Sri Lanka in the UAE.

Kamran, the 32-year-old wicket-keeper/batsman, also returned to the national side for the first time since the ICC Champions Trophy in England last June, as an opener for the World Twenty20 that runs from March 16 to April 6 in Bangladesh with his younger sibling Umar Akmal set to keep wickets.

Unveiling the squads at a hurriedly arranged media conference here at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Friday evening, chief selector Azhar Khan made it clear that Kamran has been picked as an opening batsman after piling up 639 runs in his last 26 innings.

“The reason we have gone for Kamran is that he’s a very experienced player [having scored 849 in 50 T20 Internationals since 2006] who could be an asset at the top of the order,” Azhar said. “Batting has been a big problem for Pakistan even in T20 cricket.

“We hope that Kamran should be able to play his part in solving this shortcoming. E want to make clear here Kamran is in the squad as one of three openers [others being Ahmed Shehzad and Sharjeel Khan], while Umar Akmal would be keeping wickets in both Asia Cup and the World Twenty20.”

The selectors rewarded Fawad Alam with an Asia Cup berth for his consistent run of scores in the current domestic season during which the 28-year-old left-hander from Karachi was the highest run-getter in the President’s Cup one-day competition with 438 runs at an average of 87.60 for National Bank of Pakistan as well as scoring close to 700 first-class runs for his department.

“Fawad certainly merits inclusion in the Asia Cup after showing outstanding form this season. His selection gives Pakistan more options since is a brilliant fielder and a handy slow-left-arm bowler,” Azhar remarked.

Fawad, who was recalled after a three-year hiatus, has scored 603 runs (averaging 37.68) in 27 One-day Internationals.

However, the chief selector who was flanked by committee members Saleem Jaffer and Farrukh Zaman at the media conference, couldn’t justify the sideling of Sarfraz for the upcoming tournaments after the wicket-keeper’s match-turning knock in the Sharjah Test against Sri Lanka last month as well as his batting exploits in the last Asia Cup final in Dhaka in March 2012 when Pakistan narrowly defeated Bangladesh to lift the title.

“Sarfraz was considered but all of us [including captain Misbah-ul-Haq] felt that Umar Akmal is the best choice given the frailties of Pakistan batting in the last couple of series,” he explained.

“But it doesn’t mean that Sarfraz won’t be part of future Pakistan ODI and T20 teams. He did a grand job in the Test series against Sri Lanka and remains very much in our plans. We have asked the board to revive Pakistan ‘A’ tours so that those players who are not picked at least get proper opportunities to show their mettle at the second tier tours/series.”

Sarfraz was the best batsman during the T20 Cup for Departments in Lahore last November when batting was extremely difficult on pitches heavily favouring bowlers, particularly in the morning games. He scored 250 runs at 50 for PIA in that event.

Commenting on the make-up of the squads selected after the upheavals in the PCB set-up during the last few days, Azhar said thorough discussions were held with all the stakeholders before finalising the squads.

“Without developing a consensus with the stakeholders, it is always very hard for the selectors to justify the merits and demerits of the players chosen. For the past few days since we were given the task, the selectors have been in constant touch with both our captains [Misbah and Hafeez] as well as [head coach] Moin Khan and [bowling coach [Mohammad Akram],” Azhar stressed. “The [invaluable] inputs from them gave us a proper idea as to what they want from us before the teams were finalised.”

Pakistan open the defence of their Asia Cup crown against Sri Lanka in Fatullah on Feb 25. Their remaining fixtures are against Afghanistan at the same venue two day later, against old foes India in Dhaka on March 1 and then against hosts Bangladesh on March 4, also in the Bangladeshi capital.

After warm-up games against New Zealand and South Africa, Pakistan, who won the World T20 in England in 2009, play all their World T20 ties in Dhaka, beginning against India on March 21 before playing Australia on March 23 and the qualifiers from first round on March 30.

Squads:

Asia Cup: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Sharjeel Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Fawad Alam, Umar Akmal (wicket-keeper), Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti, Anwar Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha.

World Twenty20: Mohammad Hafeez (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Ahmed Shehzad, Kamran Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Umar Akmal (wicket-keeper), Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Bilawal Bhatti, Sohail Tanvir, Junaid Khan, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Saeed Ajmal, Zulfiqar Babar.