Afridi’s selection completes a remarkable turn that saw him retire from international cricket in May only to recently change his mind after Ijaz Butt was replaced as head of the PCB by Zaka Ashraf.

Razzaq has not played for Pakistan since the World Cup and he is joined in the squad by batsman Umar Akmal who was left out of the Test series against Sri Lanka.

Batsmen Taufiq Umar and Azhar Ali, wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal and fast bowler Wahab Riaz are the men from the Test squad who miss out.

The limited-overs series kicks off in Dubai on November 11.

Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Younis Khan, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Umar Gul, Aizaz Cheema, Junaid Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Abdul Razzaq, Asad Shafiq

Afridi led Pakistan to the World Cup semi-finals in March but quit international cricket two months later after developing serious differences with coach Waqar Younis and former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ijaz Butt.

“Now the conditions have improved and I am available for Pakistan,” Afridi told reporters.

Afridi, one of Pakistan’s greatest limited-overs players, was dumped as captain by Butt in May after beating the West Indies in the Caribbean, prompting his conditional retirement.

He said at the time he could reverse his decision if the leadership changed.

After Butt’s controversy-filled, three-year term ended on 8 October, Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, who is also patron of the PCB, appointed banker Zaka Ashraf as the new chairman.

“I had never said that I would not return to international cricket,” added Afridi. “I had said that I would not play under the previous PCB management.”

He added that he is willing to “play under anyone’s captaincy.”

Afridi’s tussle with PCB officials began when he criticised team management on his return from Pakistan’s three-two ODI series win against the West Indies. In response, the PCB suspended his contract and removed the enigmatic all-rounder as captain for the two-match ODI series against Ireland in late May.

Team manager Intikhab Alam and Younis had criticised Afridi in their tour report after the visit to the Caribbean. Butt also blamed Afridi for losing the last two games.

Afridi was then fined 4.5 million rupees ($52,000) in June for violating the PCB’s code of conduct, but he was cleared to play abroad again.

Local media reported that Afridi, currently in the US, had decided to announce his retirement from international cricket after weeks of estranged ties with the Pakistan Cricket Board which saw Shahid Afridi being replaced as the Pakistan team captain.

According to sources, Afridi’s disagreement with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over some issues resulted in his early retirement.“I cannot work with the people who find it difficult to tolerate statements in favour of cricket,” he stated, saying that the duty of a coach is to work for the welfare and in favour of team. “It is nothing short of an hounour for me that Pakistan played world cup semifinal under my captaincy,”

Imran Khan BLAMES the PCB for Shahid Afridi’s Retirement

PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar told the Associated Press on Friday a letter had been received from law firm Mandviwala & Zafar on Afridi’s behalf.

Sarwar said the issue has been referred to the PCB disciplinary committee, which will conduct Afridi’s hearing next Wednesday.

The PCB has suspended World Cup captain Afridi’s central contract and all his NOCs after he criticised leading cricket officials.

Afridi retired in protest, saying he will not return to international cricket if the existing PCB structure is not changed.

“A firm of lawyers acting on Afridi’s behalf have sent the PCB a letter to try and resolve the issue,” the player’s manager Umran Khan told ESPNcricinfo.

“The letter has gone into some depth in explaining the history of Afridi as a player, his contributions to Pakistan cricket and his global standing as a player. The Hampshire issue has also been raised.”

July 2009 – Afridi takes over as T20 captain, after Younis Khan announces his retirement from the format.

November 2009 – Younis Khan steps down as captain, claiming he has lost control of his players. He meets Ijaz Butt to tell him, having warned him before of growing concerns about players. Mohammad Yousuf appointed as Test and ODI captain for the tours to New Zealand and Australia.

January 2010 – Afridi takes over as ODI captain for the final ODI against Australia in Perth; Yousuf, reportedly, is upset that he is not likely to continue as captain and refuses to play the game.

February 2010 – Shoaib Malik temporarily takes back the captaincy, at least in T20Is, when he leads Pakistan in a one-off game against Australia, and in two matches against England in the UAE, after Afridi was banned for two games for biting the ball in Perth in January.

March 2010 - Mohammad Yousuf is one of a number of players handed bans of various periods for their parts in the disastrous tour of Australia, meaning he is officially not Pakistan’s captain anymore.

May 2010 – Shahid Afridi is convinced to come out of a four-year Test retirement made ODI and Test captain for the tour of England 2010.

July 2010 – Afridi steps down as Test captain, having led Pakistan to one, resounding defeat against Australia at Lord’s. Salman Butt takes over as Test captain.

September 2010 – Butt is provisionally suspended by the ICC for his role in the spot-fixing scandal that rocked the summer, leaving Pakistan without Test captain.

October 2010 – Misbah-ul-Haq is appointed Test captain for Pakistan’s first Test assignment after the spot-fixing scandal.

May 2011 – Misbah takes over as ODI captain, after Afridi is removed following an ODI series win against the West Indies.

Coaches

October 2008 – Geoff Lawson is removed as coach of Pakistan, days after Ijaz Butt takes over as PCB chairman.

November 2008 – Intikhab Alam is appointed full-time coach.

March 2010 – Intikhab is quietly removed without any official announcement after the disastrous tour to Australia, and Waqar Younis is appointed in his place.

Chief selectors

October 2008 – Salahuddin Ahmed steps down as chief selector, ostensibly over a selection dispute, but days after Ijaz Butt takes over as chairman.

November 2008 – Abdul Qadir is appointed full-time selector, taking over from Saleem Jaffer who was acting head after Salahuddin’s departure.

June 2009 - Qadir steps down, claiming he wasn’t allowed to do his job independently and that there was interference from the board. Wasim Bari takes over as interim head.

July 2009 - Iqbal Qasim takes over as a chief selector.

January 31, 2010 - Qasim steps down, claiming responsibility for Pakistan’s winless tour to Australia.

March 2010 - Mohsin Khan is appointed full-time selector.

The 31-year-old had a disagreement with Younis during the team’s 3-2 win against the West Indies earlier this month and his public criticism of the coach ultimately led to him losing the captaincy.

“Yes, I am now retired from all international cricket,” Afridi told AFP by telephone from London. “I am dejected and hurt and whatever I said about the coach it was in the best interest of the team.”

Afridi, who took over as Test and one-day captain last year, abruptly retired from the longer version of the game after a heavy defeat against Australia at Lord’s in July 2010.

He then led Pakistan to two one-day series defeats against England and South Africa before winning a 50-over series in New Zealand and guiding the team to the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup where they lost to eventual champions India.

Afridi then lashed out at coach Waqar Younis on his return from the West Indies.

“Everyone should do his job and should be accountable for his work,” said Afridi, reportedly irked at Waqar’s interference in team selection.

When asked about his reported problems with the coach, Afridi replied: “The differences are not at a stage where they cannot be resolved.”

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took heed of the public criticism and served a show cause notice to Afridi before announcing that Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq would lead the team in two ODIs against Ireland.

Pakistan won the series 2-0 under Misbah on Monday.

Afridi, who withdrew from the Ireland matches due to his father’s illness in the United States, said he was roughly treated by the PCB.

“I play for my country and for my people,” he said. “I led the team to the semi-final of the World Cup but the reward was such that I was not sure about my captaincy.”

Afridi said his decision to retire was final, as he would not play under the current PCB, headed by chairman Ijaz Butt, but hinted at a comeback if there was a change in leadership.

“This current board treats players roughly and I will not play under this set-up. But if this set-up is changed only then will I consider coming back because I have always played for my people and will play for them.”

Afridi said he had battled against the game’s match-fixing menace and had put a disjointed Pakistan team back together.

“When I retired from Test cricket and sensed spot-fixing in the team, I fought against it and after the fixing episode united the team which was broken and divided,” said Afridi, referring to last year’s fixing scandal in England.

That controversy, related to last year’s Lord’s Test against England, ended in lengthy bans on former Test captain Salman Butt and pacemen Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer.

Afridi, who still holds the record for the fastest one-day hundred, scored off 37-balls against Sri Lanka at Nairobi in 1997, was the joint leading wicket-taker with 21 in this year’s World Cup, with India’s Zaheer Khan.

The burly all-rounder scored 6,695 in 325 one-dayers and took 315 wickets as a leg-spinner. He has a tally of 1,716 runs and 48 wickets in 27 Tests.

He also holds the record of hitting most sixes in all one-day cricket with 289.

Afridi finished as player of the tournament in the first two editions of the World Twenty20, in 2007 and 2009, helping Pakistan to the title in the latter tournament in England.

“I served the country to the best of my ability but did not deserve this treatment. I wanted to leave cricket on a happy note, but that did not come about,” he said.

Former captain Asif Iqbal said Afridi’s retirement was disappointing and said PCB chairman Butt should be seen responsible.

“It is yet another disappointing episode in Pakistan cricket and the blame goes to Butt who took an arbitrary decision (of replacing Afridi),” said Iqbal.

Enough is enough, its time to remove the Ejaz butt who been very disappointed for pakistani cricket.

If you think about it, this is exactly how Ejaz Butt goes about changing the Pakistan cricket team’s captains. For me, this is just another failure on Butt’s part. Sure, Pakistan won the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup, made it to the semi-finals in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, played well in the 2010 Twenty20 World Cup, and exceeded our expectations in the 2011 ICC World Cup – was all of this Butt’s success or a reflection of the talent in Pakistan?

Just imagine the brilliant results that can be achieved if our talented cricket team were to be backed by capable management.

Butt has not given any explanations for the move as yet, but the widely held belief is that Shahid Afridi was sacked as captain because of his differences with coach Waqar Younis.

The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) role here should really have been to define each individual’s domain.

Was Afridi justified in asking for a final say in the playing eleven?

Yes, because he was the one who had to lead the team in the field. He was the one who had to take all the decisions on the ground. If a certain player did not fit well in his plans, he should have been given the power to make that player sit out.

Detractors will be quick to mention that Afridi is no Imran Khan. Agreed. But did we not allow the same freedom to Inzamamul Haq? We gave him the power to pick his squad.

Here, you have a captain who just wants his say in the final eleven, not the whole squad, and you axe him. And come to think of it. What if Misbahul Haq wants to play a certain player instead of someone who has Younis’s backing? Gear up Muhammad Hafeez and Umar Gul, your chances of captaining Pakistan just experienced exponential growth. In conclusion, Butt’s decision does not solve the problem.

The famous Pietersen-Moores episode has been brought up in equation with this incident. The difference is that Kevin Pietersen had openly talked to his employers, the English Cricket Board (ECB), to find a replacement for Peter Moores. He did not want to work with him. Did Afridi do the same? No. He just reiterated the importance of every individual playing his role.

My problem with handing over the captaincy to Misbah is simple: he is too old.

How long will he be able to carry on? Do we have a replacement ready? The answers to these questions are unclear. It really is another chapter in Pakistan cricket’s much publicised story of unpredictability, for only in Pakistan cricket can you make such comebacks. From being rejected as ODI material just over seven months ago, to becoming the captain of the side, it sure speaks volumes about our consistency.

But who am I kidding?

Why would you want a captain who has led you to 18 wins in 34 matches (all played away from home)?

Why would you want a captain who was the joint-highest wicket taker at the recently concluded World Cup?

Why would you want a captain who has, against all odds, managed to keep this team united under massive pressure?

Why would you want a captain who led you to the semi-finals in the World Twenty20 and the ODI World Cup?

You would definitely not want him to stay as captain. Instead, you would choose a 37-year-old. I have nothing against Misbah, but he should not be captaining the Pakistani side on the tour to Ireland. For a man who led his squad to a fairy-tale run at the World Cup and brought together the whole of Pakistan, a job many of our celebrated leaders outside the world of cricket have failed to do, Afridi deserves more respect.

We had Imran. We had Miandad. We had Wasim. But, if ever, there was to be a true reflection of Pakistan’s cricketing culture, a strange relationship between excitement, talent and a high degree of unpredictability, Afridi is the man.

Thank him for giving us positive headlines. Thank him for that special something that he manages to pull off in the field almost always.

Thank him for the celebration style that is almost iconic in nature for fans all over the world.

There are not many things I am sure about, but I can bet most Pakistani cricket fans will again go to bed praying for Butt’s ouster as chairman of PCB.

England on Thursday confirmed that Andrew Strauss has stepped down from the one-day captaincy, with Alastair Cook appointed as his successor.

While Cook will skipper the ODI outfit, Stuart Broad has been handed England’s Twenty20 reigns after Paul Collingwood relinquished his T20 responsibilities.

The decision to install Cook as one-day captain comes despite the 26-year-old having been excluded from England’s World Cup squad. The opening batsman has in fact made just three one-day appearances in the last two and a half years, leading his country in a 3-0 series success against Bangladesh in 2010.

Cook – who has 26 one-day caps to his name – is excited by his new role, and he was quick to dismiss suggestions that his batting approach is not suited to the limited overs game.

“Andrew Strauss has led the one-day team to continued success over the past two years and I’ll be looking to continue that progress as captain,” he said.

“I’m excited by the challenge of taking our 50-over cricket to new heights and I believe I can play an integral role with the bat as well as captain.

“I’ve worked hard on my limited overs cricket in recent times – I’ve never seen myself as a Test batsman exclusively and I know I have a lot to offer strategically and as a top order batsman in one-day cricket.”

Meanwhile 24-year old Broad will take the England leadership reigns for the first time in the Twenty20 international against Sri Lanka on June 25.

“It’s a huge privilege to be named England Twenty20 captain,” said Broad.

“I’ve always enjoyed playing the shortest form of the game and I relish the opportunity to develop my leadership skills as England’s Twenty20 captain.”

“The chance to work closely with Andy Flower is an extremely exciting one and as current World Twenty20 champions I know there is a real responsibility to continue the team’s recent success.”

Strauss explained that his decision to step down as ODI captain was made with the goal of concentrating more on his role in Test cricket.

“I’ve enjoyed my time as England one-day captain immensely and I’m extremely proud of the strides we’ve made in limited overs cricket over the past two years,” said Strauss.

“We still have a long way to go if we’re to achieve our goal of winning ICC global events and I feel now is the right time for me to step aside and ensure someone else takes up that challenge.

“Retiring from one-day cricket will also enable me to focus solely on the Test captaincy and our ongoing development in the Test arena as we also strive to be the top ranked team in world cricket.

“I look forward to working closely with both Alastair and Stuart as we work together to progress England’s development across all forms of the game.”

The left-handed batsman, who played 83 Tests and 200 one-dayers for Sri Lanka during his 15-year career, said he was prepared to back up his allegations by naming some of those involved.

“Match fixing is something which has been in this country over a period of time. This has spread like a cancer today,” Tillakaratne was quoted as saying by Sri Lanka’s Daily Mirror newspaper on Friday.

“According to my knowledge, it happened since 1992.

“There were threats of this issue being exposed at various times. But it was pushed down by giving money to various people.

“If the people who were responsible for that are listening to this, I state this today with great responsibility, I will shortly reveal the names of those responsible,” he said.

Tillakaratne, who skippered Sri Lanka between April 2003 and March 2004, stopped short of suggesting the 2011 World Cup final was rigged, although he expressed reservations about the selection of the Sri Lankan team that was beaten by India.

There was no immediate comment from the Sri Lankan cricket board over the allegations.

Tillakaratne is now an opposition politician.