Pakistan names squad for Bangladesh series, Riaz dropped

Pakistani selectors omitted left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz from the squad named for the upcoming series against Bangladesh after his name cropped up during the spot-fixing trials in London early this month.

The selection committee, headed by Mohammad Illyas, made only one change in the Test squad that recently played against Sri Lanka in the UAE with young pacer Mohammad Talha replacing Riaz for the tour starting from November 26.

The ODI squad, also named today, remained unchanged with the one that clinched the series against Sri Lanka.

The selectors also continued to ignore wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.

Misbah-ul-Haq was retained as captain for the full series after he led Pakistan to a Test and ODI series win over Sri Lanka in the UAE.

The names of Riaz and Akmal were mentioned during the spot-fixing trial held in London in which Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir were handed jail terms by a court for their involvement in corruption and cheating during last year's Lord's Test.

Although chief selector Illyas did not elaborate on why Riaz and Akmal had been omitted, sources said that the national selectors had not got clearance from the Pakistan Cricket Board to consider the duo for the tour.

"Unofficially after their names were mentioned during the spot-fixing trial in London of Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Amir, it has been decided to keep them on the sidelines until the matter is sorted out with the ICC," the source said.

"The teams were selected after proper consultations between the selectors and team management and best possible players have been selected," Illyas said.

Asked if the ICC had told the PCB not to select Riaz, Illyas said he didn't know much about this. "We just selected the best possible team."