Pakistan made several key changes to their squad for the upcoming red-ball tours against West Indies and England, set to begin later this month.
Shan as specialist batter
Besides returning to Babar Azam as the Test captain to replace Shan Masood, Pakistan have given maiden call-ups to pacer Ubaid Shah, the youngest brother of Naseem Shah and Hunain Shah, Ali Usman and Awais Zafar.
While Masood won’t be calling the shots during the tour, Pakistan’s selection committee have decided to stick with him as a specialist batter for now. That is hardly surprising as his numbers as a captain with the bat, unlike match results under him, showed positive signs. Two of his six hundreds in a 13-year career came as a captain, and against teams like South Africa and England no less.
Shaheen’s diminishing pace
Pakistan, though, have left out pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali alongside Noman Ali. Shaheen has been in and out of Pakistan’s red-ball side for a while now, as he was sidelined for the second Bangladesh Test as well. His primary concern, as the side’s high performance director also revealed, remains the falling kph. Shaheen has regularly been clocking 125-135 kph, which renders him unable to spearhead the pace attack.
“We are concerned with the pace of our fast bowlers,” Aaqib Javed, who is both a selector and the director of high performance, said. “It is unacceptable that their speeds drop to 126kph on the second or third day of a Test, which was the case in Bangladesh. We have brought in Ubaid Shah for that purpose and we have made these changes on the basis of evidence, which included the use of speed guns, that we gathered over the recent camp.
“We feel we need pace for the next two series and these bowlers, who have been selected for the next five Tests, also have to cement their places with performances. This (selection) is about the conditions.”
Noman, who will be 40 in October, meanwhile, is a casualty of Pakistan eyeing a dominant pace attack, as well as Noman’s best years running out. Alongside Shaheen, Noman was also not part of the second Bangladesh Test and the red-ball training camp, which ran during Pakistan’s time off. The spin duties will be assigned to Sajid Khan, with Salman Ali Agha assisting.
While Pakistan have refrained from making any significant changes to the batting lineup, Saud Shakeel will not travel with the side for the West Indies tour. He has been named for the following England series, but only subject to fitness.
Pakistan squad for West Indies Test series:
Babar Azam (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam ul Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Awais Zafar, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.
Pakistan squad for England Test series:
Babar Azam (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam ul Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Muhammad Awais Zafar, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel* (subject to fitness), Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah.
Schedule for West Indies series:
25-29 July – First Test, Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Tarouba
2-6 August – Second Test, Queen’s Park Oval, Port of Spain
Schedule for England series:
19-23 August – First Test, Leeds
27-31 August – Second Test, Lord’s
9-13 September – Third Test, Birmingham
ALSO READ:
Babar Azam returns as Pakistan’s Test captain- IPL