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Akhtar rushed into Pakistan plans

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KARACHI, Pakistan -- Pakistani cricket authorities have decided to rush fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar to South Africa to join the team before the first Test in Johannesburg which starts on Thursday.

Akhtar, who was cleared last month of a doping offense, is being sent to South Africa as young paceman Umar Gul has been ruled out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury, a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official has revealed.

"Gul has been ruled out and the team management have sent a request to the selectors to rush a replacement," said Ehsan Malik, the board's communications director.

Akhtar, Pakistan's most senior bowler with 165 Test and 208 one-day wickets, was not picked for the Test series as the selectors said he needed to regain his match fitness and form.

He and fellow-paceman Mohammad Asif were cleared of having intentionally taken a banned substance, nandrolone, by an appeals commission of the board after they had earlier been banned for two years and one year.

Pakistan have also lost senior batsman Mohammad Yousuf and all-rounder Shoaib Malik for the opening Test.

Yousuf is looking after his ill wife and Malik has been advised to take two weeks' rest to recover from an ankle injury.

Yousuf was Pakistan's most successful batsman last year scoring 1,788 runs with nine centuries, breaking the 30-year record for most runs and hundreds in a calender year set by West Indian Viv Richards.

All-rounder Abdul Razzaq has already been ruled out of all three Tests with a calf muscle injury.

The first Test starts on January 11 in Johannesburg.

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