Updated at: 1718 PST, Wednesday, January 12, 2011
LAHORE: Allrounder Shahid Afridi has been retained as captain of the Pakistan cricket team while batsman Misbah-ul-Haq has been made his deputy for the upcoming six-match One-day International series in New Zealand.
The selection committee kept Afridi on as captain in the finalised the 16-man squad, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) release said.
The squad for the World Cup is likely to be announced later for which the International Cricket Council (ICC) has set a deadline of January 19.
Veteran batsman Mohammad Yousuf was left out, raising fears the 36-year-old will not make the final World Cup squad.
Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, who was cleared by the PCB for selection after he too fell under the spotlight of the investigation into spot-fixing, was restored to the side for the New Zealand series.
Kamran has not been selected since the tour of England which ended in September last year and was marred by spot-fixing allegations which led to the suspensions of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.
Former captain Shoaib Malik and Fawad Alam were overlooked.
Squad: Shahid Afridi (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq (vice captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Tanveer Ahmed, Ahmed Shahzad.
The six-match one-day series, which starts in Wellington on January 22, will be Pakistan's last before the World Cup which is to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh from February 19 to April 2.
