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Pakistan's Asia Cup squad shorn of stars and lustre

The national selectors in Pakistan are faced with an acute manpower shortage, as the deadline nears for picking a team for the upcoming Asia Cup quadrangular in Sri Lanka.

Besides Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Mushtaq Ahmed, all of whom missed the Independence Cup tournament in India last month owing to county commitments, the likes of Saqlain Mushtaq, Rashid Latif, Ijaz Ahmed and Asif Mujtaba have also indicated their unavailability for selection.

Thus, just 12 players turned up for the conditioning camp at Islamabad beginning Wednesday - leaving the selectors two short of the 14 required for the squad, and giving them no choice whatsoever in the matter of who to pick.

Among the players who did turn up for the camp, only the likes of Ramiz Raja, Saeed Anwar, Shahid Afridi, Salim Malik and Inzamam ul Haq have any experience worth the name.

Given this situation, it looks increasingly likely that controversial opening batsman Aamir Sohail will make his comeback to the national squad, if only by default. Sohail is slated to go before the PCB's disciplinary committee on Thursday to substantiate his allegations regarding betting, bribery and match-fixing in Pakistan cricket.

What makes the situation even worse for the selectors, who will meet later this week to choose the squad for the quadrangular contest involving, besides Pakistan, host nation Sri Lanka, India, and new entrant Bangaldesh, is that the Pakistan A team has already left on a tour of England, thus depriving the selection committee of the option of picking rising talent to supplement the experienced players.