Akhtar becomes the first casualty of the 12-team event for which final 15-man squads were announced on May 5. The 33-year-old missed last week's conditioning camp in a luxury Pakistani hill resort due to the condition and his omission had been widely expected after he missed the first of three practice matches here Wednesday.

Coach Intikhab Alam backed Akhtar's omission on fitness grounds. "We can't keep a half-fit player for a major event," Alam told reporters. "He has not done any training for the last 15-20 days and missed last week's camp. His performance is for all to judge to his form, so we had to take this decision and fortunately it happened before the event started," said Alam.

Akhtar is likely to be replaced by paceman Rao Iftikhar for the second edition of the World Twenty20 which starts in England from June 5. "We have sent Iftikhar's name as replacement and he attended the camp and is in good shape," said Alam.

Asked whether Akhtar's troubled career was over, Alam said it was up to the bowler to work on his form. "He is out only for the World Twenty20 and now it's up to him to work on his fitness and earn a recall. He was selected in the squad but he failed to keep his fitness and his career depends on fitness." The PCB said it has written the technical committee of the World Twenty20 for the right to name a replacement after the fast bowler's fitness was assessed by a three-man panel on Thursday.

Akhtar is likely to be replaced by paceman Rao Iftikhar for the second edition of the World Twenty20 which starts in England from June 5. Akhtar, plagued by injury since his debut in 1997, managed to play just four Twenty20 matches last year due to fitness and discipline problems.

He was dropped from the team after getting just one wicket in the two one-day matches internationals against Sri Lanka in February. He was later ruled out of the Test series because of knee problems. The series was ultimately abandoned after gunmen attacked the Sri Lanka team bus en route to the stadium in Lahore. Akhtar was then included in Pakistan's squad for their five one-dayers and one Twenty20 match series in the United Arab Emirates this month.

He took three wickets in four one-day matches but did not complete his allotted 10 overs in any of the matches. He only bowled two overs in the one-off Twenty20 match against Australia in Dubai, conceding 18 runs. AFP