Gwalior, Nov 13: A day after ruling him out of the One-day International series against India because of injury, Pakistan has declared that Kamran Akmal remained their first choice wicket-keeper for the fourth ODI to be played here on November 15.

A Pakistan team official said that Kamran Akmal is working hard to recover in time for the Gwalior one-dayer, and attended a training session with his teammates and also underwent a fitness test.

"Kamran Akmal remains our first choice wicket-keeper, there shouldn’t be any doubt about it, " Dr Ahsan Hameed Malik, the team’s media manager, said.

His comments came just a day after Pakistan sent a SOS back home, asking the selectors to send in a replacement for the injured Akmal for the rest of the series.

They announced that Akmal injured his hand during the current tour of India and will be out of the remaining matches of the ODI series.

It was decided that young wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed, who led Pakistan to a title-winning triumph in the 2006 Youth World Cup in Sri Lanka, will be sent to India as Akmal’s replacement.

But Malik clarified that Sarfraz is just coming to India as a back up and if fit, Akmal would continue to keep the wicket for Pakistan in the remaining matches of the series that also includes three Tests.

"We have called up Sarfraz because Akmal is facing fitness problems. We still have a lot of matches to go in this series and cannot afford not having a specialist wicket-keeper in the playing line-up, " The News quoted Malik, as saying.

Malik said that Akmal would continue training with the national team and would undergo another fitness test ahead of the Gwalior one-dayer before a final decision is taken as to who will keep the wickets for Pakistan.

It remains to be seen whether Pakistan, who have the option of fielding opening batsman Yasir Hameed as a stand-in wicket-keeper in Gwalior, will field Sarfraz in the game if Akmal fails to get fit in time. (ANI)