Pakistan dump Umar after discipline breach

Pakistan has left batsman Umar Akmal out of the squad for the three-match Twenty20 series against England on disciplinary grounds.

The 25-year-old Umar was allegedly involved in an incident involving "mistreatment" of women while playing a first-class game in Hyderabad last week, and was issued a show cause notice requiring him to appear before selectors.

In a PCB release, chief selector Haroon Rasheed said: "Umar had been pencilled in for selection, but he has subsequently been dropped on instructions from the PCB, as he has been issued with a show cause notice for bringing the board and Pakistan cricket into disrepute."

Umar has played 65 Twenty20 matches for Pakistan, the most recent being in Zimbabwe on September 29.

He was also dropped from the one-day team following the 2015 World Cup after head coach Waqar Younis cited his lack of discipline and insubordination.

Umar, whose elder brothers Kamran and Adnan also played for Pakistan, was jailed for beating a traffic warden last year.

PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said Umar would be given an opportunity to clarify his actions.

"There should be an inquiry and Umar will be given an opportunity and after that we will take action," Khan told media. "He is suspended and was not included in the team before we make a decision.

"Basically our players are not educated, most of them are school drop outs, so this becomes a problem and we will address that as well."

Pakistan's 16-man squad for the series beginning in Dubai on November 26 includes 39-year-old batsman Rafatullah Mohmand, 10 years after he first came into reckoning for the national team, while Iftikhar Ahmed has been named to fill in the slot that fell vacant following Younis Khan's retirement.

Younis retired from one-day cricket on Wednesday after Pakistan won the first match against England by six wickets.

Meanwhile, Pakistan has suspended former spinner Saeed Ajmal's contract over television comments he made about the way bowlers with illegal actions are dealt with.

The 38-year-old had been Pakistan's match-winner for five years until he was sidelined over his bowling action before being cleared in February.

However, a remodelled action rendered him ineffective and he was not selected for the current series against England.

Ajmal blasted the International Cricket Council process on the illegal action issue, claiming it singled out spinners like him.

"Why just target the off-spinners?" Ajmal questioned on two channels last week.

"Why not the left-arm spinners, leg-spinners or fast bowlers?

"I can tell you that I have been through this bowling assessment process so many times and have watched and studied this issue so closely that I can vouch that if tests were carried out, there would be many other bowlers whose bowling actions would exceed the 15 degrees extension limit," said Ajmal, singling out Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh as a suspect.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan told reporters on Thursday that Ajmal's contract had been suspended.

"We feel sorry over his comments," Khan said.

"We have taken the minimum action on the violation of discipline and have suspended his contract, stopped releasing his salary and have asked him to explain his comments."

Despite not being selected since April this year, Ajmal was retained in the "B" category in PCB central contracts.

Khan said Ajmal had been supported in his efforts to alter his bowling action.

"We supported him a lot, invited Saqlain (Mushtaq) to correct his action so his comments were sad that we did not support him," said Khan.

Ajmal took 178 Test, 184 one-day and 85 Twenty20 wickets in a glorious career, before his action was reported in August last year as suspect.

He was subsequently suspended a month later as his elbow was extending more than the 15 degrees tolerance limit allowed under the ICC rules.

Ajmal remodelled his action under former Pakistan spinner Saqlain, but managed just one wicket in the two one-day internationals and was wicketless in a Twenty20 against Bangladesh in April.

Pakistan Twenty20 squad:
Shahid Afridi (captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Rafatullah Mohmand, Shoaib Malik, Sohaib Maqsood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Imad Wasim (subject to fitness, otherwise Bilal Asif), Imran Khan Junior, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Amir Yamin.