Pakistan have once again decided to push the reset button as they scramble to find a one-does-it-all solution to their problems. This time, they have decided to send home seven of their players before the third and final Test at Edgbaston on September 9. Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar, and Khurram Shahzad are among the players released from the squad.
Besides them, Pakistan have also let go of their head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umer Gul. In their stead, their white-ball counterparts Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke have joined the squad.
New faces called up
Among the players called up for the final Test, only Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal are capped players, though they only have ten Test games between them. Besides the two, five uncapped players include Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, and Razaullah.
Imam’s exclusion seems to have come in the wake of his recent calf injury that rendered him unavailable for both innings during the Lord’s Test. Even so, his form in the red-ball format, especially in away conditions, was middling at best.
Among the seven exclusions, Ali Usman’s seems the most shocking. Usman took a five-for at Headingley in the only innings Pakistan bowled. In doing so, he became the first spinner since 1972 to achieve the feat. At Lord’s, it was he who dismissed Gus Atkinson, who, batting with the tail, had scored 45 runs and provided England with handy runs.
Pakistan eye a renewed middle order
Salman Ali Agha, on the other hand, seems to have been sidelined due to his dwindling form. Salman, who captained Pakistan at Headingley in place of the injured Babar Azam, was dropped from the Lord’s Test. He has averaged only 24 in five games this year.
The same is the case for his fellow middle-order batter Mohammad Rizwan, who, despite having been decent behind the stumps on bouncy surfaces this series, has had plenty of issues with his batting. Pakistan’s Nos. 5 to 7 currently average the lowest among all WTC nations in this cycle.
While Khurram Shahzad was given his chances and failed to cash in, having been selected in both Test games against England where conditions for pacers were ideal, Aamer Jamal has not had as much game time. In Pakistan’s defence, Jamal’s inclusion comes at the cost of a specialist batter, as was the case in the first Test against West Indies where a shortened batting lineup cost them plenty.
Pakistan Test squad for Birmingham Test:
Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Fazal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Razaullah, Saad Baig (wk), Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.
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