Pakistan drop Misbah, recall Farhat against New Zealand

Pakistan have dropped senior batsman Misbah-ul-Haq from the squad to play New Zealand and recalled opener Imran Farhat after nearly three years out of the team.

Pakistan are scheduled to play four One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches against the Kiwis in Abu Dhabi and Dubai before travelling to New Zealand for a Test series.

"We have decided to give Misbah a rest and he will be considered for the tour of Australia and can concentrate on playing domestic cricket," chief selector Iqbal Qasim told a news conference on Thursday.

Farhat, 27, had last played for Pakistan in 2007.

"We have problems with finding a reliable opening pair and we have decided to give Farhat another chance," Qasim added.

They also recalled pace bowler Mohammad Asif, all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, Salman Butt and Khalid Latif.

ODI squad: Younis Khan (C), Shahid Afridi, Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Khalid Latif, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Muhammad Aamer, Rao Iftikhar, Wahab Riaz.

Twenty20 squad: Shahid Afridi (C), Khalid Latif, Imran Nazir, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Rana Naved, Umar Gul, Muhammad Aamer, Rao Iftikhar, Saeed Ajmal, Imran Farhat, Fawad Alam, Sohail Tanvir.

Test squad: Younis Khan (C), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Muhammad Aamer, Abdul Rauf, Umar Akmal, Sarfraz Ahmed.