Pakistan cricket selectors ignored fast bowler Rao Iftikhar in its 22-man training squad named Tuesday for the first Test against Sri Lanka later this month. “Rao is a good fast bowler for one-day cricket, but we have depth in our fast bowling for test matches,” chief selector and former test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said. Iftikhar, a 28-year-old right-arm fast bowler, has been a consistent member of Pakistan's one-day squad, but played his lone Test match in 2006 against Sri Lanka at Kandy. The 22-man squad will be cut down to either 14 or 15 players by Feb. 18 after a short training camp at Karachi – starting Feb. 15. The first Test begins Feb. 21 at Karachi, while Lahore will host the second Test from March. 1. The selectors recalled 32-year-old left-handed batsman Asim Kamal for the training camp. Kamal played last of his 12 Test matches against England in 2005 before he was sidelined due to poor form. Kamal has been brought back in a bid to fill the huge void in the Pakistan batting line-up left by the absence of batting mainstay Mohammad Yousuf, who last year defected to the unrecognized Indian Cricket League (ICL) and was subsequently barred from playing for Pakistan. The Sindh High court last week suspended the ban, but the Pakistan Cricket Board is due to submit its reasons for the ban before the court on Wednesday. “We have good cushion in the middle-order with batsmen like Kamal, Faisal Iqbal and uncapped Saeed Bin Nasir,” Qadir said. Fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was ruled out of the Test series after he was advised to undergo a knee operation following the one-day series against Sri Lanka last month. Pakistan will be playing its first Test match in 14 months when it takes on Sri Lanka after last playing a five-day match against India in Dec. 2007. Last year, Australia postponed its scheduled tour to Pakistan due to security concerns, while a two-test series against the West Indies did not materialize. Training squad: Younis Khan, Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Khurram Manzoor, Shoaib Malik, Misbahul Haq, Faisal Iqbal, Asim Kamal, Fawad Alam, Bazid Khan, Saeed Bin Nasir, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat, Danish Kaneria, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Talha, Sohail Khan, Abdul Rauf, Saeed Ajmal, Sarfraz Ahmed.
