Shoaib back for Twenty20

Shoaib: Returning to action

Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif have been named in Pakistan's Twenty20 World Championship squad, less than a year after failing drug tests.

The duo were sent home after testing positive for the performance-enhancing drug nandrolone at the ICC Champions Trophy last year.

But the Pakistan Cricket Board controversially overturned the respective two-year and one-year bans meted out on appeal.

And after passing World Anti-Doping Agency approved drug tests at the start of August, the selectors have recalled the pair for the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa.

Fresh faces

Senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf and all-rounder Abdul Razzaq have been omitted though, with batsman Misbah ul Haq back after three years in the international wilderness.

Young all-rounder Fawad Alam also makes the 15-man party, as Pakistan seek to redeem themselves following the World Cup debacle earlier this year.

New coach Geoff Lawson will hope to avoid another giant-killing for the nation against Scotland on September 12, before a mouth-watering tie against arch-rivals India two days later.

Squad: Shoaib Malik (captain), Salman Butt, Imran Nazir, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Misbah ul Haq, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Asif, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Yasir Arafat, Abdul Rehman.