Senior Players Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi Included in Pakistan’s Test Squad for Bangladesh Series

The Pakistan cricket team had intended to make a major change after a poor performance in the T20 World Cup, but instead they have decided to keep veteran players Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, and Babar Azam in the Test squad for the forthcoming two-match series against Bangladesh. According to a PTI report, foreign head coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillispie advised the team’s changes.

Pakistan lost to the United States and India in the first round of the T20 World Cup in June, and thus were eliminated. Mohsin Naqvi, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), had stated that the team needed a “major surgery”.

Reports of player misbehavior during the competition emerged later. However, the PCB decided to move past the World Cup fiasco and decided against taking any severe action against the players.

For the red-ball format, the PCB has kept Shan Masood as captain. Saud Shakeel has been promoted to vice-captain, taking Shaheen Shah Afridi’s place, who served as vice-captain during the previous Test tour of Australia. The two uncapped players in the team are Kamran Ghulam and Muhammad Huraira.

The player who was not selected for the Test team in the past, Kamran Ghulam, has been summoned back. Pacer Muhammad Ali has also been picked again, despite only participating in two Test matches against England in 2022. For Pakistan’s first Test series of 2024–25, the majority of the squad is unchanged from the 13 men that played in the final series against Australia at the end of 2023–24.

Mohammad Huraira, Kamran Ghulam, and Muhammad Ali were recognized by selectors for their dependable efforts in domestic cricket and for the Pakistan Shaheens. After recuperating from an injury, Naseem Shah is back in the red-ball format.

All-rounder Faheem Ashraf, pacer Hasan Ali, spinners Noman Ali, Muhammad Nawaz, and Sajid Khan, and opener Imam ul Haq are among the players dropped from the previous Test series. Owing to an injury, Muhammad Waseem junior is not available. Aamir Jamal, an all-rounder, has been added to the team, subject to his passing physical tests.

Part of the schedule for the ICC Test Championship, Pakistan will play Bangladesh in two Tests starting on August 21. The national squad will play nine Tests, fourteen Twenty20 Internationals, and seventeen One-Day Internationals both domestically and overseas in the forthcoming season.

Pakistan Test squad: Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Aamir Jamal (subject to Fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk) and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

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