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The Pakistan selection committee had a bagful of surprises while announcing separate Test, ODI and T20 squads for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.
After the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf announced that Mohammad Hafez would be the new T20 captain and vice-captain to Misbah ul-Haq in Tests and ODIs, the selectors dropped Misbah from the T20 squad.
Announcing a number of new faces and recalling some stalwarts in all three teams, the selectors clearly signaled a new line of thinking for Pakistan cricket.
Surprisingly fast bowler, Mohammad Sami, who has been sidelined from the national team since 2010, was recalled for all three formats of the game, the recall of discarded batsman Faisal Iqbal to the Test side was another surprise.
Interestingly, all-rounder Shoaib Malik, who was being seen as a top candidate to replace Misbah as the T20 captain, has not been picked for either format.
The squads:
Twenty20: Mohammad Hafeez (c), Khalid Latif, Ahmed Shahzad, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Shakeel Ansar, Shahid Afridi, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Sohail Tanveer, Saeed Ajmal, Raza Hasan, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Sami, Hammad Azam, Nasir Jamshed.
One-day: Misbah-ul Haq (c), Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Rahat Ali, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Sami, Asad Shafiq, Aizaz Cheema, Azhar Ali, Imran Farhat.
Test: Misbah-ul Haq (c), Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Adnan Akmal, Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Sami, Faisal Iqbal, Junaid Khan, Afaq Rahim, Mohammad Ayub, Aizaz Cheema.