Umar Akmal ruled out of Zimbabwe tour
The 23-year-old suffered a back injury while playing in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League, an annual Twenty20 tournament.
- Agence France-Presse
- Updated: August 17, 2013 07:54 pm IST
Pakistan on Saturday suffered a blow ahead of their tour of Zimbabwe starting next week with dashing batsman Umar Akmal ruled out due to a back complaint.
The 23-year-old suffered the injury while playing in the ongoing Caribbean Premier League, an annual Twenty20 tournament.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Akmal will be replaced by wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed.
"PCB received the confirmation from the West Indies today about Umar not being medically fit. He has immediately been called back and will undergo complete medical examination to reassess the level of his fitness," a statement said.
"Meanwhile national selection committee has proposed Sarfraz as his replacement for Pakistan one-day and T20 squads for the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe."
Pakistan play two Twenty20, three one-day and two Tests matches on the tour, with the first T20 on August 23.
Umar's loss comes after opener Imran Farhat pulled out of the Test team citing family reasons.
Umar returned to the limited over squad on the tour of the West Indies where he kept wicket besides batting in the middle-order.
Sarfraz, 26, was dropped after a disappointing tour of South Africa earlier this year.
Pakistan's revised squads:
Test: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Asad Shafiq, Khurram Manzoor, Adnan Akmal (wk), Faisal Iqbal, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil
ODI squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shahzad, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Abdul Rehman, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Haris Sohail
T20 squad: Mohammad Hafeez (capt), Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shahzad, Umar Amin, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Haris Sohail