Pakistan announce Twenty20 squad

Shoaib Malik has been named captain of Pakistan’s preliminary 30 man Twenty20 World Cup squad, announced today.

Fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif, who both missed the one-day World Cup, were both selected and will greatly boost Pakistan’s chances in the inaugural event.

The list will eventually be halved before the side travels to South Africa for the event in September.

Pakistan’s preliminary squad: Shoaib Malik (cpt), Shahid Afridi, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Yasir Hameed, Fawad Alam, Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Abdul Razzaq, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Imran Farhat, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Hafeez, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naveed Latif, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Yousuf, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanveer, Zulqarnain Haider, Mohammad Irshad, Najaf Shah, Danish Kaneria, Abdur Rehman.