Every News: Pakistan rest Sarfraz for Australia ODIs

Pakistan rest Sarfraz for Australia ODIs
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KARACHI: Pakistan has rested regular skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and five other key players for the five-match one-day series against Australia this month.Announcing the team on Friday, chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq stressed that resting Sarfraz was a unanimous decision, but there have been reports that Sarfraz did not want to miss all five matches.The others rested are opener Fakhar Zaman, batsman Babar Azam, spinner Shadab Khan and fast bowlers Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi. Shoaib Malik will lead the side in the series, which will be played in Sharjah on March 22 and 24, Abu Dhabi on March 27, and Dubai on March 29 and 31.Inzamam said the decision was aimed at freshening up the squad for the 2019 World Cup, which starts in England in May. “We have the World Cup as our focus and since the team has been playing cricket continuously we decided to rest some players, including captain Sarfraz. We want the players to be fresh for the mega event,” he said at a press conference here at National Stadium.Rejecting rumours of a captaincy change for the World Cup, Inzamam said Sarfraz had proved his greatness as captain by winning a number of series and he had been performing well both with bat and gloves behind the wicket.Inzamam said the selection had not been able to give chance to some players who were performing well because of the timing of series. “Now the series against Australia provided us an opportunity to test those players,” he said.All-rounder Hussain Talat has been dropped, while senior batsman Mohammad Hafeez was not considered as he is recovering from a thumb surgery. Inzamam said he expected Hafeez to be fit before the series against England. Explosive batsman Umar Akmal, who played the last of his 116 ODIs more than two years ago, has been recalled. He was sent back home from the Champions Trophy in England in 2017 after failing a fitness test.Inzamam said Umar was an experienced batsman and had improved his fitness.The PSL usually adds a few names to the Pakistan roster every year and this year is no different, with Quetta Gladiators’ Saad Ali and Mohammad Hasnain making their way into the squad. “Hasnain has been identified as one of the fast bowlers for the future,” said Inzamam.“He has been bowling with pace, regularly clocking 145 km, and has also shown tremendous control with the ball,” the chief selector said. The squad also includes uncapped 31-year-old batsman Abid Ali.Test specialists Yasir Shah and Mohammad Abbas are also included in the squad. Abbas has yet to play an ODI. Squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Abid Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Sohail, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan, Saad Ali, Shan Masood, Umar Akmal, Usman Shinwari, Yasir Shah