ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was forced to retain Mohammad Yousuf as captain for their three-Test series in Australia after Younus Khan remained unavailable, selectors announced Tuesday.

Younus, appointed captain until the 2011 World Cup, pulled out of Pakistan's tour to New Zealand over lack of form and has since been unavailable. He did not play in any domestic match, which was a prerequisite for his selection.

Yousuf will also lead the team in the five-match one-day series that follows the Tests. Shahid Afridi, not in the Test squad, will lead the team in the one Twenty20 to be played after the one-day matches.

Two players on the current New Zealand Test tour -- Yasir Arafat and Sarfraz Ahmed -- will return home to trim the squad for the Australia tour to 16.

The first Test starts in Melbourne from December 26.

Squad: Mohammad Yousuf (captain), Salman Butt, Khurrum Manzoor, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Fawad Alam, Faisal Iqbal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Kamran Akmal (wk), Danish Kaneria, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamir, Abdur Rauf, Umer Akmal.