Pakistan excludes Yousuf

Pakistan on Tuesday left out experienced batsman Mohammad Yousuf from their final 15-man squad for next month's cricket World Cup hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The selectors also surprisingly deferred naming the squad's captain, raising doubts over whether all-rounder Shahid Afridi will lead the side after Pakistan's 2-1 defeat in the Twenty20 series against New Zealand last month.

Thirty-six-year-old Yousuf was deemed not fit enough to warrant a place in the squad. His future was thrown into doubt last week after he was omitted from the one-day team due to play a six-match series in New Zealand from January 22.

Squad: Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Umar Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Ahmed Shahzad. AFP