Yousuf joins rebel Indian Cricket League

Karachi: Senior Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf has flown to India to join the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) despite his selection on Monday in the national team for three one-day internationals.

"He didn't tell us he was going to India. We heard about it ourselves two hours back. We called up his home and his wife has confirmed he has gone to India to play in the ICL," Pakistan Cricket Board operations director Zakir Khan told a news conference on Monday.

Earlier Yousuf was named in a squad to play three one-day matches against West Indies in Abu Dhabi on November 12, 14 and 16.

Zakir said Yousuf would be banned from all cricket in Pakistan if he played in the Twenty20 competition.

The ICL filed a legal case against Yousuf with an arbitrator in Mumbai for breach of contract after he first signed for them in August, 2007 and then returned his advance payment and decided to get a contract in the officially approved Indian Premier League. The case is still pending.

Doubts erased

Troubled fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar was also retained in the 15-man squad after erasing doubts about his form and fitness, while top batsman Younus Khan will join the trip from his club team South Australia.

Yousuf, 34, was forced to sit out the four-nation Twenty20 event in Canada after a delay in getting a Canadian visa. Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka in the final.

"Everyone knows about his stature as a world-class batsman, so there was no way he was dropped. In fact his visa got delayed forcing us to leave him out of the T20 event," chief selector Saleem Jaffar said.

Jaffar said Akhtar, who has battled doping and disciplinary problems which landed him with a $90,000 fine, kept his place on the back of some strong domestic form.

The squad

The Pakistan squad for Abu Dhabi against West Indies:

Shoaib Malek (capt), Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Mohammad Yousuf, Younus Khan, Misbahul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umer Gul, Rao Iftikhar, Abdur Raoof, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanveer, Fouad Alam

Coach: Intikhab Alam