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.