Younus Khan puts ban behind him to return for Pakistan fold after ban

Younus Khan has agreed to return to the Pakistan cricket team after his ban for indiscipline was rescinded.

Former captain Younus was one of four players excluded from international action by the Pakistan Cricket Board for indiscipline during the ill-fated tour of Australia last winter.

The ban was lifted in June, but Younus has only now been included in the squad for the one-day international series against South Africa after talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Coincidentally, he will replace another of the quartet - Mohammad Yousuf - in the party for the series in the United Arab Emirates after the experienced batsman withdrew due to injury.

Yousuf had ended his own exile during the controversial recent Test series against England while another former captain, Shoaib Malik, and all-rounder Rana Naved-ul-Hasan also saw their bans overturned.

Younus resisted the call for longer but met the PCB chairman Intikhab Alam in Lahore yesterday after the governing body recently wrote to him asking him to consider a return to the fray. He will now take his place in a squad swelled to 17 by the additions of Karachi Dolphins' young opening batsman Shahzaib Hasan and Lahore Lions paceman Wahab Riaz.

But Yousuf will be absent after national team manager Intikhab Alam confirmed the 36-year-old ruptured a muscle in his right leg during training in Lahore last week. "Since it is a second-grade tear of the muscle, he will not be able to play in the limited-overs series," Alam said. "But he will be available for the two Tests that follow."

Pakistan will start the series with back-to-back Twenty20 matches on 26 and 27 October in the United Arab Emirates, the "home" venue for the subcontinental side. They will then play five one-day internationals and two Tests against the same opponents.

The series will be Pakistan's first since the spot-fixing controversy, which saw then captain Salman Butt and opening bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer provisionally suspended by the International Cricket Council.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has now barred the three players from practising at the National Cricket Academy pending the ICC investigation.

PCB spokesman Nadeem Sarwar said the trio have been informed of the latest sanction. "We have sent them letters that they cannot practise at the NCA because they are suspended at the moment," Sarwar said.

Butt had been practising at the NCA in Lahore since he returned from the England tour last month. All three have denied the allegations and have filed appeals against their suspensions. The ICC will hold a hearing at Doha from 30 to 31 October.

The PCB has agreed to implement an education program for players and an accountable disciplinary process, as well as a deterrent and detection process to protect the game from corrupt elements.