LAHORE: National selectors, as part of their strategy to keep all the leading performers involved in the system, have invited six additional players who will participate in the training camp for the Test players, which commences here at the Gaddafi Stadium on April 10, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced on Saturday.

“These players include Irfanullah Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab), Rohail Nazir (Northern), Sameen Gul (Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa), Taj Wali (Baloc­histan) and Waqas Maqsood (Central Punjab),” said a PCB spokesman.

In the camp to be held before the Test side’s departure for Zimbabwe, the selectors had invited seven additional players so that the coaches could work on their development.

Separately, a high performance training camp for 25 players not involved in the HBL Pakistan Super League 6, was held at the National High Performance Centre but it had to be closed due to the rise in Covid-19 cases.

The Test players’ camp will run under a bio-secure environment from April 11 to 20 before the 11 players depart for Harare on April 21 to join other members of the national side.

Pakistan’s two Tests in Zimbabwe will be staged in Harare from April 29-May 3 and May 7-11.

The spokesman said the camp would be held under the supervision of National High Performance coaches, including Saqlain Mushtaq (head of player development), Mohammad Yousuf (batting coach), Mushtaq Ahmed (spin bowling coach), Umar Rasheed (fast bowling coach) and Atiq-uz-Zaman (wicket-keeping/fiel­ding coach), Javed Sheikh (strength & conditioning coach), Tahir (physiotherapist) and a masseur.

Harare-bound Test players to attend the camp:

Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Imran Butt, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel (subject to fitness), Shahnawaz Dahani, Tabish Khan, Zahid Mahmood.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2021