Pakistan maintain winning combination against Kiwis

E-Paper | April 28, 2026

LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday announced an unchanged squad for the upcoming Test match series to be played against the New Zealand in the United Arab Emirates, DawnNews reported.

There were no changes made in the winning combination which had completed a whitewash against the Australia last week.

“This is to ensure there is consistency, which will bring more stability and strengthen team bonding and combination,” said chief selector Moin Khan.

Omission of pace bowler Mohammad Irfan, who was ruled out from the previous series to preserve him for the World Cup, remained intact.

Top-ranked spinner Saeed Ajmal remains suspended over a suspect bowling action which had made room for spinners Yasir Shah and Zulfiqar Babar in the team.

Both the spinners included in the squad performed remarkably in the victorious series against the Australians.

New Zealand play three Test matches against the greenshirts with the first Test starting in Abu Dhabi on November 9.

The second Test between Pakistan and New Zealand will be in Dubai from November 17 followed by the third in Sharjah from November 26.

Read: New Zealand recall Bracewell for Pakistan Tests

After the Tests, New Zealand will also play two Twenty20 games followed by five one-day internationals against Pakistan.

Squad for Test series:

Ahmed Shehzad, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Shan Masood, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Asad Shafiq, Haris Sohail, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Talha, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Ehsan Adil, Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah.

The teams for the One Day and T20 matches would be announced later.

Our readers are at the heart of everything we do.
Do you have a thought to share or a way we can improve? We’d love to hear it. Reach out to us at feedback@dawn.com.

Sport

Three-time champions United, hungry Zalmi set to fight for PSL final spot

Inter’s title charge hits bump in road, Milan-Juve clash ends in stalemate

No team better than PSG, says Enrique ahead of Bayern semi

Sal

Nov 06, 2014 06:10pm

Why Hafeez? Give chance to a youngster. Hafeez has passed his prime

Recommend 0

Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad

Nov 06, 2014 06:21pm

What else could they do?

Recommend 0

Nov 06, 2014 07:21pm

Please dont select Hafeez. After failing for 10 years, this guy will never learn from his mistakes. I bet he has a bigger parchi than imran farhat.

Recommend 0

hrk

Nov 06, 2014 08:08pm

The conditions will be totally different in New Zealand. They should have picked an extra pace bowler and also taken into account that the kiwis have 6 left handed batsmen. Moin was a good cricketer but not an intelligent selector.

Recommend 0

N. Rahim

Nov 06, 2014 08:16pm

@Sal I strongly agree.

Recommend 0

M1968

Nov 06, 2014 08:20pm

Hafeez again. Please get rid of him completely from all formats of the game and give someone else a chance. He is s useless batsman.

Recommend 0

Azher

Nov 06, 2014 09:02pm

@hrk your intelligence is questionable, they are playing the series in UAE not in NZ. Read the facts before speaking...

Recommend 0

Azher

Nov 06, 2014 09:06pm

@Sal I agree Hafeez has not been performing but he gives you a bowling advantage. But the counter argument which I totally agree with is that opener position is a crucial position.

Recommend 0

Faisal

Nov 06, 2014 09:11pm

@hrk This series in UAE. Please omit Hafeez completely from all formats of the game.

Recommend 0

Muhammad Iftikhar

Nov 06, 2014 09:20pm

@hrk I think they are playing in UAE

Recommend 0

hrk

Nov 06, 2014 09:30pm

ok I was already thinking about the word cup, which is taking place in New Zealand. My apologies.

Recommend 0

Harmony

Nov 06, 2014 09:31pm

@Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad - You forgot to add "only time will tell"!!!

Recommend 0

Nov 06, 2014 09:34pm

Have nothing against M. Hafeez, but retaining a non-performing player is wrong. This was a good opportunity to try others before the world cup.

Recommend 0

Zaid

Nov 06, 2014 09:42pm

Hafeez is not contributing as a batsman but I think Misbah likes to have the option of Hafeez picking the odd wicket or two. His pacers are not highly experienced so Hafeez can come in quite handy; particularly against left-handed openers. So ideally Hafeez wouldn't be in the team as he's lost his confidence as a Test opener, but he provides a bit of cushion at the moment. I think PCB should look towards grooming all-rounders (preferably spin-bowlers as they are more durable) for the future because boy are they handy. I remember when Pakistan had Wasim Akram, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mehmood & Shahid Afridi as part of the same squad - and at times as part of the same team! Imagine what a luxury that was for the captain!

Recommend 0

waqar

Nov 06, 2014 09:48pm

@hrk they are not playing in new Zealand they are playing in uae AGAINST nz

Recommend 0

naji

Nov 06, 2014 10:59pm

I think that Hafeez should not be playing test matches at all. And I would like to have Fawad Alam in his place. Fawad has already scored a century in test matches he played for Pakistan and has been so consistent with bat in ODIs and FC. And Pak has no left handed batsman in the middle order.

Recommend 0

Adnan Siddiqi

Nov 07, 2014 12:03am

@hrk That's why Hafeez's selection is all the more justified. Hafeez's bowling record against the left handers is very impressive and it's likely that he would always nip out 1 or 2 of the opposition's front line batsmen before the main strikers are all over the rest of the batting lineup. Hafeez may not be a very reliable bat himself but his bowling gives Misbah the flexibility to either use Hafeez as an offensive weapon, choke the runs at one end or to give break to the front line bowlers. Ideally his batting order needs to be changed and let Shahzad open with Azhar Ali and Hafeez can come in between Younus Khan and Misbah. But then again, why fix when it ain't broke? Let him just bat as an opener and if he scores about 30-40 runs at a strike rate of 45.00, at least he would nullify the new ball and soften it up to make life easier for the rest of the batsmen.

Recommend 0

Adnan Siddiqi

Nov 07, 2014 12:08am

The management should be adopting a rotation policy for the fast bowlers. The wickets can take a heavy toll on a fast bowler in UAE and Rahat Ali figures are getting ugly with the passage of each game. His style of bowling is certainly not suited on such unresponsive pitches. Rahat should be rested and either Ehsan Adil or Mohammad Talha should be brought in his place. The other guy Imran Khan merits another shot as he has got pace and the tools to generate reverse swing which is the key on such tracks.

Recommend 0

Kesar

Nov 07, 2014 12:34am

It looks Hafeez has a good hold on selectors' strategic anatomical parts. I can't seem to figure out why this useless cricketer is still in the team.

Recommend 0

IMRAN

Nov 07, 2014 01:01am

One thing is appreciable that Misbah stayed captain regardless of any criticism. Our media is like a baby. they listen and see something and start shouting. I hope they will do mature reporting by the time.

Recommend 0

Arif

Nov 07, 2014 02:44am

Hafeez should be given khuda hafiz

Recommend 0

Faisal

Nov 07, 2014 03:03am

Its good that team won but Hafeez and Rahat don't offer much to the team. Add 2 more youngsters.

Recommend 0

ENIGMA

Nov 07, 2014 04:33am

Finally, PCB has seen the light : ) May this new winning team achieve many more victories ahead, IA!

Recommend 0

concerned_kashmiri

Nov 07, 2014 04:53am

Excellent. Looking forward to another whitewash. Go team Green.

Recommend 0

Farhan

Nov 07, 2014 06:12am

Why is Hafeez still in the team? He contributed nothing to the test win. We need a left handed opening batsman like Taufeeq Umar or Shan Masood. Hafeez is not technically capable enough to be in the test team and he also wastes the new ball bowling his lollypops.

Recommend 0

Nadeem

Nov 07, 2014 06:19am

are you kidding me???? WHY HAFEEZ???? He doesn't belong in the longer format or should I call Steyn??? we may experiment with him in ODI but NOT TEST. Loud and clear!!! He will be exposed AGAIN on the fast, bouncy pitches of Australia. Some one needs to call Steyn!!! I also think we have better bowlers then Rahat Ali....,

Recommend 0

Branded Content

NexGen Auto (Nishat Group) to Introduce iCAUR in Pakistan

As one of Pakistan’s leading business groups, Nishat Group operates across key sectors including textiles, cement, banking, insurance, power and agriculture.

NTL and Unikrew Solutions establish additional strategic understanding for potential transformation opportunities

Collaboration brings together complementary strengths to jointly pursue high-impact opportunities in Pakistan and international markets.

Indus Cloud signs strategic partnership agreement with PTCL to deliver cloud excellence

The partnership marks a significant step in Indus Cloud’s and PTCL’s joint efforts to strengthen Pakistan’s cloud and data centre infrastructure and expand access to enterprise-grade digital services in the country.