KARACHI: A reinvigorated Mohammad Amir along with Shan Masood and Mohammad Rizwan were notable inclusions in the 16-man Pakistan squad which was named on Friday for the upcoming three-Test series in South Africa.

The national selection committee, headed by Inzamam-ul-Haq, however excluded Bilal Asif, the off-spinner who figured in all five Tests Pakistan played against Australia and New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates.

Left-arm paceman Amir was confined to domestic cricket since September after failing to take any wickets in three matches of the Asia Cup held in the UAE.

Inzamam said the return of Amir was expected after the left-armer rediscovered his form domestic cricket as the 26-year-old bagged 23 wickets at 13.60 in four Quaid-i-Azam Trophy fixtures for SSGCL.

“The return of Amir definitely boosts our bowling in the pace-friendly conditions in South Africa. We have closely monitored his progress since the Asia Cup and found him ready for Test cricket,” Inzamam said. “Likewise, Rizwan has performed consistently in domestic cricket and for Pakistan ‘A’, while Shan Masood has been selected after the retirement of Mohammad Hafeez from Test cricket.”

The four-man committee — which has Tauseef Ahmed, Wajahatullah Wasti and Wasim Haider as members — however gave no credence to the brilliant form of uncapped opener Abid Ali, who in the current first-class season has scored 845 runs at an average of 60.36 with two centuries in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy — including 134 in Habib Bank’s first innings in the ongoing final against defending champions SNGPL who are skippered by ex-Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq — and another two for Pakistan ‘A’ against New Zealand ‘A’ and England Lions in Abu Dhabi in recent series of matches.

Shan, who last played a Test nearly 14 months ago, joins fellow left-handers Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman to vie for the opening slots during the forthcoming Tests in Centurion (Dec 26-30), Cape Town (Jan 3-7) and Johannesburg (Jan 11-15).

Fakhar returns to the side after missing the New Zealand series due to a recurring knee injury while Shadab Khan missed both the Test series because of a hamstring issue.

Rizwan, who is the backup wicket-keeper to captain Sarfraz Ahmed, is currently leading Pakistan in the ACC Emerging Teams competition in Karachi.

Shadab and the in-form Yasir Shah are the only specialist spinners in the squad while the selectors felt Bilal’s off-spin bowling would be a surplus on the South African pitches where Amir, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Asad Shafiq, Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2018