Yousuf returns to Pakistan fold

Yousuf last played Test cricket in December 2007

Pakistan have recalled batsman Mohammad Yousuf to the squad for their upcoming Test series in Sri Lanka.

All-rounder Shahid Afridi is rested while Shoaib Akhtar is left out again.

Yousuf ended his association with the unsanctioned Indian Cricket League (ICL) in early May, in the hope of earning a recall for his country.

The Pakistan Cricket Board recently offered an amnesty to ICL players, and Abdul Razzaq returned to play in their victorious World Twenty20 side in June.

"I am happy to be named in the squad," said Yousuf, who has scored more than 16,000 runs for Pakistan.

"I have not played a Test since December 2007 (against India at Bangalore) so it will be tough to stage a comeback but I will try to do my best."

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His decision to join the ICL was made because of differences with former captain Shoaib Malik, who has since been replaced by Younus Khan.

As well as the recalled Razzaq, who last played a Test in 2006, the pace attack includes precocious 17-year-old Mohammad Aamir, who made his international debut in the World Twenty20 success in England.

Aamir's fellow left-arm seamer Sohail Tanvir has been dropped, but off-spinner Saeed Ajmal and right-arm seamer Abdur Rauf, both uncapped in Tests, are included.

Afridi, named as man of the match in the semi-final and final, will skip the three-Test series which begins on 4 July in Galle, but will return for the five-game one-day international series which follows.

Opener Khurram Manzoor is recalled to the squad but once more there is no place for injury-hit paceman Shoaib Akhtar, who missed the World Twenty20 because of a genital infection.

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Pakistan squad: Younus Khan (capt), Misbah-ul-Haq (vice-captain), Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Yousuf, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wk), Umar Gul, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Aamir, Danish Kaneria, Abdul Razzaq, Abdur Rauf, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam.