Saeed Ajmal, having had his action approved by the International Cricket Council, has been call up by Pakistan for their tour of Bangladesh, meaning he will be unavailable to Worcestershire for the first few weeks of the county season.
The off-spinner was unable to play for his country from August last year, when he was reported for a suspect action, until February, when he was cleared after remodelling his action.
He did not feature in the World Cup where Pakistan reached the quarter-finals, but has been included in all formats for two Tests, three one-day internationals and a Twenty20 with the Tigers starting later this month.
When Worcestershire re-signed Ajmal, whose heroics aided LV= County Championship promotion last year, in late February they were waiting to hear if Pakistan’s tour of Bangladesh would go ahead. It was subsequently approved by Pakistan’s government on March 21, at which point the Pears knew they would likely be without Ajmal for the opening weeks of the campaign.
Younus Khan, who on Wednesday pulled out of a deal with Yorkshire due to his likely involvement, is in the Test party but not the ODI one following a disappointing World Cup
Azhar Ali succeeds Mishbah-ul-Haq, who like Shahid Afridi retired from ODIs at the end of the World Cup, as 50-over captain. Misbah stays in charge of the Test team and Afridi the T20 side.
Test squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Younus Khan, Haris Sohail, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar, Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz, Junaid Khan, Sohail Khan, Rahat Ali.
ODI squad: Azhar Ali (capt), Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Sohail, Sohaib Maqsood, Sami Aslam, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil, Sohail Khan.
T20 squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Ahmed Shehzad, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez, Mukhtar Ahmed, Sohaib Maqsood, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Rizwan, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Saad Nasim, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan.