Younus is one of the most recognisable faces in Pakistan cricket

Pakistan have omitted star batsman and former captain Younus Khan from their 16-man Test squad to tour Australia.

Younus had been excused from the ongoing tour of New Zealand, but upset Pakistan Cricket Board authorities by refusing to play domestic cricket.

Chief selector Iqbal Qasim said: "He didn't give his availability to us and therefore we did not select him."

Mohammad Yousuf is retained as skipper, but Pakistan will be led by Shahid Afridi for the Twenty20 international.

Younus, 32, has played 63 Tests since his debut in February 2000. He has 16 centuries and an impressive batting average in excess of 50.

His form has not been outstanding of late, though he did hit a career-best 313 in a home Test against Sri Lanka in February - and skippered the side to ICC World Twenty20 glory in England in June.

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He was deeply offended, however, when Jamshed Dasti, the chief of the National Assembly standing committee on sports, alleged Pakistan had deliberately under-performed at the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa in September and October.

Younus was then told he would not be allowed to resign the captaincy for the short one-day series against New Zealand in the UAE - a series in which he performed poorly with the bat - though he was allowed to skip the trip to New Zealand altogether.

Pakistan fly to Australia directly from New Zealand, where they play a deciding Test in Napier from Friday to conclude a three-match series.

Their three Tests in Australia begin on Boxing Day in Melbourne, and they then play five one-dayers under Yousuf's captaincy, before finishing off with a single Twenty20 match on 5 February, also in Melbourne.

Qasim said a squad for the six limited-overs matches would be named after the scheduled finish of the second Test in Sydney on 7 January.

Meanwhile, former captain Waqar Younis has been appointed as the team's bowling and fielding coach for the tour.

Pakistan Test squad: Salman Butt, Khurram Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Misbah-ul-Haq, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer, Abdul Rauf, Umar Akmal.

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