Pakistan will be without senior batsman Younis Khan in their one-day international series against Sri Lanka in Abu Dhabi next month, Pakistan Cricket Board's chairman of selectors Salahuddin Ahmed said on Monday.

Salahuddin said that Younis had informed them from England, where he is playing for Yorkshire, that he is not available for the three match series against Sri Lanka.

"We had earlier told him that he was not needed to attend the national camp in Lahore and could join the team in Abu Dhabi as he is an automatic selection. But just now he told us he was not available for the  series," Salahuddin said.

But he did not elaborate on the reasons for Younis pulling out of the series which would be Pakistan's first after their dismal World Cup performance.

Younis's refusal is not unexpected and is keeping in line with his earlier statement when he turned down the Pakistan captaincy that he was not keen on continuing playing one-day internationals and just wanted to concentrate on Test matches.

"The international calendar is very tiring and makes you stale. I don't have interest in playing one-dayers which are held round the year and want to concentrate on Test matches only. I consider Test matches the real cricket," Younis had said.

A close friend and associate of Younis said the right hander does not rule out the possibility of the batsman not wanting to play so soon after the World Cup and wants more time to get over the recent developments in Pakistan cricket like the appointment of Shoaib Malik as captain.

Younis, along with former captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf formed the backbone of the Pakistan team in the last two years.

Salahuddin, however, said Younis's absence would allow the selectors to try out some of the reserve players.