Kamran, Misbah-ul-Haq in ODI squad to play NZ

Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal has been included in Pakistan's squad for the ODI series against New Zealand after being left out of the Test and Twenty20 squads. He exchanges places with his younger brother Adnan, who misses out. Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who played the first two ODIs against South Africa but not the final three, also finds a place, while opener Ahmed Shehzad returns to the side, suggesting he is being considered for Pakistan's World Cup squad.

Kamran has not been part of the national side since the summer tour of England and his absence had been surrounded by confusion, which his return does little to clear up. Speculation linking him to the spot-fixing scandal has been rife, but in October he received written clearance from the ICC stating that he could be picked for Pakistan. Since then, he has been scoring heavily on the domestic circuit. However, he was not "given clearance" to play the Tests and Twenty20s in New Zealand by the PCB's integrity committee, which did not provide details about why that decision was taken.

The 19-year-old Shehzad, who made a promising debut last year against Australia in the Middle East, played all three Twenty20 games against New Zealand, scoring 83 runs at an average of 27.66 and a strike-rate of 150.90, with a top score of 54.

Misbah made 14 and 17 in his two ODIs against South Africa and did not feature in the Twenty20 games against New Zealand. Shahid Afridi has been retained as captain. Pakistan will play six one-dayers against the hosts, with the first game taking place in Wellington on January 22.

Pakistan ODI squad: Shahid Afridi (capt), Muhammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal (wk), Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Umer Akmal, Abdul Razzaq, Abdul Rehman, Saeed Ajmal, Shoaib Akhtar, Umer Gul, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Tanveer, Tanveer Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad