CricketViewer.com

Pakistan’s new captain Shoaib Malik, who is not on the Asia squad for the three-match Afro-Asian Cup One-day Internationals to be played in the Indian cities of Bangalore and Chennai from Wednesday (tomorrow), will be leading the Asia team in the only Twenty20 International that kicks off the tournament proper, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore today (Tuesday).

The Twenty20 squads representing Asia and Africa are actually composed of the ‘reserve’ players of the two continents, as was revealed by the organisers a few days back. The Asia Twenty20 team, which plays its match against the Africa Twenty20 side that starts at 7.00 pm Pakistan Standard Time, includes three other Pakistanis apart from the skipper. They are opening batsman Imran Nazir, hard-hitting all-rounder Shahid Afridi and wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal.

The other players in the team are Tamim Iqbal, Mohammad Ashraful, Abdur Razzak and Mashrafe Mortaza (all Bangladesh), Tillakaratne Dilshan and Farveez Maharoof (Bangaldesh) and Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, the lone representative from India.

Kenya’s 20-year-old batsman Tanmay Mishra is the Africa Twenty20 captain with South Africa’s slow left-arm bowler Gulam Bodi having been named as his vice-captain. The other members of the squad are:

Loots Bosman, Morne Morkel and Thandi Tshabalala (South Africa), Keith Dabengwa, Friday Kasteni and Tawanda Mupariwa (Zimbabwe) and Alex Obanda, Nehemiah Odhiambo and Maurice Ouma (Kenya).

After Sachin Tendulkar opted out of the Afro-Asia Cup starting on June 6, he was replaced by Sourav Ganguly in the 14-member squad. Zaheer Khan was also been included in the revised squad, joining Dilhara Fernando and Mashrafe Mortaza as the replacements for Shoaib Akhtar, Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.

“Following the unavailability of some players named in the original squads on May 11, the selectors have named their final squads for the three ODI matches in Bangalore and Chennai on June 6, 9 and 10 and the Twenty20 match on June 5,” a statement clarified.

Sreesanth, who had to opt out of the Bangladesh tour due to injury, makes his return to international cricket after being named as Munaf Patel’s replacement in the 11-member Twenty20 team.

Asia ODI squad: Sanath Jayasuriya, Virender Sehwag, Upul Tharanga, Mahela Jayawardene (captain), Sourav Ganguly, Mohammad Yousuf, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Dilhara Fernando, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Rafique, Mohammad Asif.

After Graeme Smith’s withdrawal through injury, the captaincy of the Africa squad has been taken up by South Africa’s wicket-keeper Mark Boucher with the vice-captaincy remaining with Kenya’s Steve Tikolo.

Other members of the Africa team are: Johan Botha, AB de Villiers, Herschelle Gibbs, Andrew Hall, Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock (South Africa), Elton Chigumbura and Vusi Sibanda (Zimbabwe) and Thomas Odoyo, Peter Ongondo and Hiren Varaiya (Kenya).

Source:The News