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The national selectors decided against deleting any member from the 15-man squad they named for the Karachi Test to make room for comeback star Inzamam-ul-Haq for next week’s series-decider in Lahore.

Instead they extended the squad to 16 men, giving another lifeline to several batsmen, who struggled in the opening Test in spite of the fact that it was played on a batting wicket.

The fact that Pakistan are facing major problems with their batting was clearly underlined as the selectors opted to select ten batsmen in a squad of 16 which just has three pace bowlers. Openers Salman Butt and Mohammad Hafeez were unable to impress in either innings of the Test. Faisal Iqbal and Misbah-ul-Haq — the two batsmen — who played on positions generally occupied by Mohammad Yousuf and Inzamam — also failed to make full use of the opportunity.

Butt, the vice-captain made 24 and 3 in the Test while Hafeez made 32 in the first innings but flopped miserably in the second outing when he fell for just 1. Misbah, returning to the Test squad after four years, made identical scores of 23 in each innings.

In all, the batting quartet contributed 159 runs to Pakistan cause in the Test at an average of less than 20. Their aggregate was 96 less than the 255 scored Jaques Kallis for South Africa in the match.

Pakistan’s 16-man squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf, Salman Butt, Tafeeq Umar, Yasir Hameed, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal (wk), Mohammad Hafeez, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Rehman, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Misbah-ul-Haq and Rao Iftikhar Anjum.

Source:Cricket News

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