Haroon Rashid confirms Younis Khan may play England ODI series

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  • Younis Khan is likely to make the cut for the upcoming one-day international series against England in the UAE next month with Pakistan chief selector Haroon Rashid confirming the veteran was in contention for a recall.

    The 37-year-old Khan has been out of the ODI squad since he was dropped after a lacklsutre display in the 2015 World Cup, where he scored 43 from three matches averaging 14.33. But his brilliant run in the Tests has resulted in the selectors having a rethink.

    A final call on his inclusion for the four-match series, beginning November 11, will be taken once Rashid lands in the UAE this week for a meeting with coach Waqar Younis and ODI captain Azhar Ali.

    Rashid insists the doors had never been shut on Khan. He said: “I’ll be travelling to the UAE and will sit down with Azhar and Waqar before finalising the ODI squad. There are some issues which we need to discuss and I believe the best possible squad would be announced.

    “Younis has been a role model in the Pakistan team and we would never close the doors on him. Whenever we feel it’s the right time to call him back, we would do so.”

    Sport360 understands Khan is likely to be included in place of all-rounder Haris Sohail, who is yet to recover from his knee injury.

    Opener Ahmed Shehzad may lose out while all-rounder is expected to return to the squad after recovering from a groing injury that kept him out of the one-day series against Zimbabwe last month.

    Khan was upset when he was not included for the series against the African nation, which Pakistan won 2-1, even terming his exclusion as a grave “injustice”.

    Khan’s indifferent form in the one-dayers as compared to the Tests has often been the reason for his omission from the shorter format. In Tests he has scored 9071 runs at an average of 54.31 while in the ODIs his average slips to 31.34 in 264 matches.

    However, he still yearns for a return to the limited-overs format and believes he can deliver.

    “I want to perform well in that format and I will be there (playing the ODIs) one day,” he said soon after scoring 118 in the Dubai Test earlier this week.

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