Pakistan have included injured fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Umar Gul
in their 15-man squad for next month`s Cricket World Cup in the Caribbean.
"These two players will undergo fitness tests later this
month. If they are not passed fit, they will be replaced by reserves,"
Saleem Altaf, director of cricket operations for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), told Reuters on Tuesday.
Altaf also said the PCB would conduct doping tests this Friday.
Akhtar and fellow paceman Mohammad Asif were banned
last year after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone before being cleared
by a PCB tribunal.
"We can replace any player who fails a dope test,"
said Altaf while adding that the checks were a normal procedure before every
major International Cricket Council tournament.
Akhtar (knee) and Gul (ankle) were sent home from the tour
of South Africa due to injury. The last match of the one-day series will be
played in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
The 31-year-old Akhtar, Pakistan`s leading bowler with 169
test and 208 one-day wickets, returned to the test arena after an 11-month absence
but only bowled in the first innings of the second match at Port Elizabeth before
breaking down.
He also underwent knee surgery in February 2006 in Australia
and since then has played in only a couple of one-day games in England and one
Test.
Altaf said the fast bowler had flown to London to seek a second
opinion on his knee problem as it could turn out to be career threatening.
The selectors have yet to name their reserves for the Cricket
World Cup, which starts when Pakistan play hosts West Indies on March 13.
Pakistan squad: Inzamam ul Haq (captain), Younis Khan,
Mohammad Yousuf, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq,
Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Rao Iftikhar, Rana Naved,
Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar.
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