Umar Akmal and Azhar Ali have been selected for Pakistan’s Champions Trophy squad.

The pair were dropped following Pakistan’s 4-1 defeat in the ODI series against Australia in January, and were left out of their T20 series against West Indies earlier in April.

Azhar was the captain of the side that lost to Australia but was stripped of the captaincy and left out of the squad. He has been replaced by former vice-captain Sarfraz.

Kamran Akmal, who was the leading run-scorer and the  Man-of-the-Tournament during the Pakistan Super League, has been dropped. He received a call-up to the T20 side for their tour of the West Indies and played all games, scoring 90 runs in four T20Is, and 68 in the three ODIs.

This was contrasting to his form in the PSL, which is understood to be the reason for his omittance from the squad.

Pakistan are in Group B and will play the Proteas on 7 July, but will have to face India in their opener on 4 June followed by Sri Lanka on 12 June.

Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed, Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Junaid Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hafeez, Shahdab Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Wahab Riaz

Photo: Daniel Kalisz /CA/Cricket Australia Getty Images/Cricinfo