Butt to miss out if Pak opts for two openers against India

KARACHI: Pakistan vice captain Salman Butt may miss out on making the squad for the five one-dayers against India as the selectors are toying with the idea of sending just two specialist openers for the series.
    
"We will be announcing the 15-member squad for the one-dayers tomorrow and we are still debating on the necessity of having three openers in the side given the fact that we have makeshift options in Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal," sources close to the selection committee said.
    
Pakistan has kept four specialist openers -- Butt, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed and rookie Khalid Latif -- in its 15-member squad for the ongoing home one-day series against South Africa.
    
Latif replaced Mohammad Hafeez after he failed in the first two matches against the visitors.
    
"Afridi has started to open again and he is a very experienced player in Indian conditions. Yasir and Nazir are specialist one-day players, so there is a debate among the selectors on whether to have Butt in the touring squad for the one-dayers in India," sources said.
    
Ironically Butt, despite being the vice-captain, has not been fielded in the first three matches against South Africa and when asked, captain Shoaib Malik said the idea was to select the best 11.
    
"This is not an issue that a vice-captain or captain is dropped or selected. The best team has to play," Malik said.
    
The source, however, said that if Butt was dropped for the one-dayers, he would be sent for the three Tests against India -- scheduled in New Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore in the second half of November.
    
"For the time being, the debate is to send two specialist openers and one extra bowler to India," he said.

Sources said fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar had also been inked down in the touring squad after impressing the selectors with his fitness and focus during a domestic first class match this week.
    
The fast bowler is set to complete a 13-match ban after the fourth one-dayer against South Africa on Friday and will also be considered to play in the final match in Lahore on Monday.
    
A national selector, who watched Shoaib in the match, said the pacer looked in his strides and rhythm while bowling.
    
"He looked a bit rusty as he has not bowled at all for over eight weeks, which is understandable. But he was keen on his workout which is good for Pakistan," he said.
    
Shoaib, due to fitness and disciplinary problems, has played just one Test and four one-dayers since February 2006 and was banned earlier this month and fined Rs 3.4 million by the Pakistan Cricket Board. He was also put on a two-year probation on four charges of misconduct, including his brawl with Mohammad Asif in South Africa before the Twenty20 World Cup.
    
Sources said the following players were being considered for the tour of India: Yasir Hameed, Salman Butt or Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Misbah-ul-Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar, Sohail
Tanvir, Abdul Rehman.