Shahadat, Gul in race to replace Vaas in the Asian squad

Dhaka, May 26 (UNI) Sri Lanka spearhead Chaminda Vaas's withdrawl from the Afro-Asian Cricket meet has now created confusion among the Asian selectors with both, Bangladesh and Pakistan wanting their player to fill up the vacant spot.

While Bangladesh is seekiing a third entrant into the 14-member squad in the form of either Shahadat Hossain or Syed Rasel, Pakistan is backing medium pacer Umar Gul to get the nod.

Sri Lankan pace spearhead Chaminda Vaas has opted out of next month's Afro-Asia Cup ODI series.

Sri Lanka Cricket Secretary Kangadaran Mathivanan has informed that Vaas, who is playing county cricket in England for Middlesex, informed the SLC that he would be unavailable.

Vaas was recently admitted to the hospital with a head injury after he crashed into an advertisement hoarding trying to take a difficult catch.

Talking to UNI, Bangladesh's representative in the Asian Selectors, A S M Faruque said, ''We will certainly want more players from the national team to play in the meet. It is a great honour.'' ''Once we start talking on the replacement I will surely talk about Shahadat Hossain. Syed Rasel is also on the list,'' he said.

''But it also depends on how the other selectors see at the options open for them,'' Faruque said.

However, Pakistan's representative Mohsin Hassan Khan is clearly not in the mood to give in easily.

''I personally believe that Umar Gul can be a good replacement for Vaas because he is a good pacer and is in fine touch these days,'' he told 'The News' in Pakistan.

On whether they will risk playing Mashrafee Mortaza in the unfavourable conditions in Bangalore and Chennai keeping in mind that he was coming back from an injury, he said, ''We have thought about it and we are going to talk to the national selectors regarding it.'' Mortaza has been prone to injury and even missed a game in the current series due to a back problem that keeps recurring.

Mortaza has already replaced Pakistan's Shoaib Akhtar in Asia's squad for next month's Afro-Asia Cup tournament.

''We have picked up Mortaza to replace (Shoaib) Akhtar in the Asia squad,'' A S M Faruque, a member of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) selection committee said.

Shoaib, who missed Pakistan's World Cup debacle due to injury, was dropped from the squad after failing to recover from the knee problem that has restricted him to one test and four one-day international appearances in the last 14 months.

Mortaza becomes Bangladesh's second representative in the 14-member Asian squad after the inclusion of left-arm spinner Mohammad Rafique.

The Asian side has been picked by the ACC selection committee made up of nominees from all four Asian test-playing nations -- India, Pakistan , Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka's Mahela Jayawardene will captain the side.

The Afro-Asia Cup one-day matches between combined teams from the Asian and African continents will be played in Bangalore on June 6 and Chennai on June 9 and 10.

Conceived as a fundraiser for the African Cricket Association and the ACC, the inaugural edition in South Africa in 2005 ended 1-1.

The series will be preceded by a Twenty-20 match in Bangalore on June 5.

UNI