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Three new names in 14-man squad

Butt and Akmal make way for new faces

Cricinfo staff

January 28, 2008

As expected, Pakistan have made a number of changes to their squad for the fourth ODI against Zimbabwe, to be played in Faisalabad on January 30.

Pakistan wrapped up the five-match series in Multan with a comfortable 37-run win and the plan had always been to try out as many new faces as possible. With that in mind, four players have been dropped and three players come in to a 14-man squad.

Salman Butt and Kamran Akmal are the most high-profile absences; Akmal making way for Sarfraz Ahmed was always on the card once the series had been secured, but Butt's poor returns haven't helped his case. Rao Iftikhar Anjum, who has had a poor series, and Yasir Arafat, who only played in Multan, are the other casualties.

In their place come opener Khurram Manzoor, the second-leading first-class run-scorer this season, Sarfraz and Wahab Riaz, the left-arm pace bowler who has taken over 50 wickets for National Bank of Pakistan this season.

It is expected that one of Khalid Latif or Manzoor will open with Pakistan's find of the series Nasir Jamshed, while Sohail Khan might also get a chance to add some bite to what has been a toothless pace attack so far.

Pakistan squad: Shoaib Malik (capt), Nasir Jamshed, Khalid Latif, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmad (wk), Sohail Tanvir, Kamran Hussain, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz

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