DUBAI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced a 15-member squad for the three Twenty20 Internationals to be played between November 26-30 against England.

Pakistan's flamboyant and swashbuckling middle-order batsman Umar Akmal was dropped from the squad, with the PCB citing a violation of its code of conduct. Akmal had received the 'Man of the Match' award in the last T20 played against Zimbabwe in September.

Umar Akmal in hot water again

PCB Chairman Shahryar Khan said that the Umar Akmal was excluded from the squad on his instructions. He said that he had found out about the middle-order batsman's involvement in "unethical activities", a day earlier and ordered an inquiry in the incident.

Khan said that Umar Akmal had been served with a show-cause notice and will remain suspended until the inquiry is complete. The PCB chairman also said that the flamboyant batsman will be given an opportunity to prove his innocence.

“There should be an inquiry and Umar will be given an opportunity and after that we will take action,” Khan told media.

“He is suspended and was not included in the team before we make a decision.

“Basically our players are not educated, most of them are school drop outs, so this becomes a problem and we will address that as well.”

Umar Akmal's father-in-law and former leg-spin wizard, Abdul Qadir, has said that baseless allegations have been framed against the 25-year-old cricketer.

Talking to DawnNews Umar Akmal also claimed that the allegations against him were baseless. He rejected the reports circulating in the media regarding his appearance at a dance party.

Umar said that if any evidence was found to suggest his involvement in any such incident then he will be the first one to tender an apology, especially to his family members who were shocked to hear the news on TV channels.

Also read: Umar Akmal, three others taking counselling sessions

This is not the first time that the batsman has made headlines for non-cricketing reasons.

Earlier in January 2014, Umar Akmal was involved in a scuffle with a traffic police warden in Lahore which had also resulted in the cricketer's arrest. The fiasco had come to an end after the batsman's father tendered a written apology to the traffic warden on behalf of the young Akmal.

Also read: Just who is this guy Umar Akmal anyway?

Later in April 2014, when Umar Akmal was marrying former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir’s daughter Noor Amna in Lahore police officials had alleged that a function was held that violated bylaws, which say only one food dish can be served at wedding parties, and which must end at 10:00pm.

Also read: Umar Akmal in hot soup over wedding party

Umar had left the venue before the police raid. The wedding had attracted big headlines in Pakistani media over the cricketer's hairstyle and expensive sherwani.

The T20 Team

Shahid Afridi (C), Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad, Sohaib Maqsood,Wahab Riaz, Shoaib Malik, RaffatUllah Mehmand, Imad Wasim, Aamir Yamin, Imran Khan Jr., Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Irfan, Anwar Ali, Mohammad Hafeez, Iftikhar Ahmed.

According to Chief Selector Haroon Rasheed, Umar was dropped for violating the code of conduct issued by PCB while Peshawar city's Raffatullah Mehmand and Iftikhar Ahmed are included in the squad owing to their recent good performance at domestic level.

The 39-year-old batsman Rafatullah makes it to the squad 10 years after he first came into reckoning for the national team.

Rasheed said Mohmand has been rewarded for his perseverance.

“Having experience of playing First-class cricket for many years, with his form, sound technique and fitness, and also given his fielding credentials, Mohmand has been afforded an opportunity as he was considered to have potential to feature in an international T20 competition as an opener,” he said.

Talking about the inclusion of Imad Wasim, the PCB chief selector said that the all rounder has to prove his fitness before selectors.

"We will drop him if he fails to prove his fitness and go ahead with Bilal Asif," Rasheed further said.

The first Twenty20 match will be played in Dubai on November 26 followed by the second, also in Dubai the next day, with the final match in Sharjah on November 30.

Pakistan is currently playing a four-match One Day International series with England and has already won the first match which was played on November 11.

Related: Pakistan thump England comprehensively courtesy Hafeez ton

The national cricket team earlier beat England in the three match Test series 2-0 making the Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq the most successful captain of his country.