Karachi: Flamboyant allrounder Shahid Afridi was on Friday left out of the 14-member Pakistan squad for the three-match Test series against India starting November 22.

Apart from Afridi, three others — Fawad Alam, Rao Iftikhar and Imran Nazir — will also return home after the fifth and final one-dayer in Jaipur, chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed said.

The selectors have brought in leg spinner Danish Kaneria, pacer Mohammed Sami and batsman Faisal Iqbal in place of the omitted quartet.

Pakistan have already lost the five-match ODI series after losing the fourth game in Gwalior on Thursday to go down 1-3.

Defending Afridi’s exclusion, Salahuddin said it would have been difficult to strike a balance in the Test team if the allrounder had been accommodated.

“If we play three pacers and Danish it is difficult to find a place for him. He is such a senior player, we feel it is better he comes home,” Salahuddin said.

Afridi failed to make much impact in the ODI series.

Earlier, pacer Mohammed Asif failed to pass a fitness test, which ruled him out of the series.

Salahuddin admitted that Asif’s failure to recover from his elbow injury has come as a blow to the team.

“He is a good pacer and ideal for Test matches. But since he is yet not recovered from his elbow injury we had no option left,” he said.

Asif also missed the one-day series because of the injury after being initially picked in the squad.

The chief selector said Asif would be sent to Australia by the Pakistan Cricket Board for examination by a sports medicine specialist.

“We are hoping he will make a complete recovery from his injury before our next series,” he said.

THE SQUAD

Shoaib Malik (captain), Younis Khan (vice-captain), Abdur Rehman, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammed Sami, Kamran Akmal (wicketkeeper), Misbah-ul Haq, Mohammed Yousuf, Salman Butt, Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir, Umar Gul, Yasir Hameed.

(PTI)