Inzy retained in squad for third Test

Although Inzamam had been showing improvement, there was no confirmation whether he would play in Karachi.

An injured Inzamam-ul Haq was on Wednesday retained in a 16-member Pakistan squad for the third and final cricket Test against India in Karachi although it was still not confirmed whether the captain would take the field in the series decider.

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Shoaib Malik was left out of the squad following the death of his father while medium-pacer Umar Gul and middle-order batsman Faisal Iqbal were included for the match set to start this Sunday.

Left-hander Asim Kamal was not picked because of his father's illness, a PCB spokesman said.

Inzamam, who scored his 25th Test century in the second Test here, is struggling to recover from a bad back that prevented him from taking the field during India's innings.

Although the team management said the 36-year-old master batsman had been showing improvement, there was no confirmation whether Inzamam would play in Karachi.

Gul, who picked up the man-of-the-match award against India in the Lahore Test two years ago, is in form and took 10 wickets in a match for PIA against Pakistan Telecommunication Limited in the Patron's Cup quadrangular league tournament.

Faisal Iqbal, nephew of the legendary Javed Miandad, is also in prime touch having stroked eight centuries this season. He has been included as cover for Inzamam.

Squad:

Inzamam-ul Haq (captan), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Imran Farhat, Mohamad Yousuf, Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria and Arshad Khan.