LAHORE, June 6: Injury-prone Shoaib Akhtar has taken one step towards international cricket once again on Wednesday after being included in the list of 20 probables who will attend a national training camp in Abbottabad from June 10.

The camp is being arranged to pick the national squad for their next month tour of Scotland where Pakistan will play one-off ODI each against India and the hosts.

Shoaib made a short appearance on Pakistan’s tour of South Africa earlier this year before missing the 2007 World Cup due to an injury. He was selected for the ongoing Afro-Asia series, only to be dropped shortly afterwards due to lack of match fitness.

Meanwhile, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, after announcing his retirement from ODIs following the World Cup disaster, is likely to be included in the remaining two phases of the camp to be held in Quetta and Karachi from July 15 till the end of Aug, to show his fitness before the South Africans tour Pakistan for a full-fledged series later this year.

“Some new players can also be added in the remaining two phases of the camp (in Quetta and Karachi). Some players can face the axe and we can consider any other deserving player to show fitness in the camp,” chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said.

“We gave special attention to middle-order batting and fast bowling department as we are expecting fast and lively pitches in Scotland for which a strong middle-order batting line-up and an effective pace attack will be the strength,” he said, adding either 14 or 15 players would be selected for the Scotland assignment.

Veteran Mohammad Yousuf, along with Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Fawad Alam are the middle-order batsmen selected for the camp along with three openers – Salman Butt, Imran Nazir and Mohammad Hafeez.

Besides Shoaib Akhtar, other pacers selected for the camp are Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar and Najaf Shah.Players who were not considered due to their participation in English county cricket are Younis Khan, Danish Kaneria, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Nazir and Bazid Khan.

Probables:

Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Najaf Shah.