(REUTERS) – Former captain Mohammad Yousuf will not feature in the World Cup after Pakistan selectors left the batsman out of their 15-man squad announced yesterday.
“It is very disappointing to not be picked for such a big event especially since I am fit and playing in domestic cricket,” Yousuf told Reuters.
The 36-year-old veteran of 90 Tests and 288 one-day internationals played in the last three World Cups.
“Only the selectors can explain the reason to omit me because I think I have still lot of cricket left in me at the international level,” Yousuf said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board has yet to announce who will captain the side in the February 19-April 2 tournament being held in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The squad includes all the players who will play a six-match one-day series against New Zealand under the captaincy of Shahid Afridi from January 22.
While Yousuf was absent from the squad, the selectors did keep faith with 35-year-old fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar, who will be appearing in his fourth World Cup.
Akhtar has been a regular feature of the T20 and ODI teams since last year and will lead a pace attack that includes Umar Gul, Sohail Tanvir and Wahab Riaz.
Pakistan are in Group A with Australia, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Kenya and Canada. They will play their group matches in Sri Lanka.
The 1992 World Cup champions were eliminated in the early rounds of the last two tournaments in South Africa and West Indies.
Their 2007 World Cup campaign ended in tragedy as their coach Bob Woolmer was found dead in his hotel room a day after the team were knocked out of the tournament by minnows Ireland.
Jamaican police initially opened a murder investigation into Woolmer’s death but a jury recorded an open verdict on the Englishman’s death after deciding that there was insufficient evidence of either a criminal act or natural causes.
Pakistan squad: Mohammad Hafeez, Ahmed Shehzad, Younus Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanvir.