Uncapped Azam called up to T20 squad; Abbas, Naseem return for Test duty

LAHORE: While seasoned campaigner Haris Sohail and all-rounder Imad Wasim along with uncapped Azam Khan made their places in the national Twenty20 squad, pacers Mohammad Abbas and Naseem Shah returned to the Test side as chief selector Mohammad Wasim announced on Friday squads for all formats for Pakistan’s back-to-back tours of England and West Indies, starting from July 25.

However, there was no place for all-rounder Shoaib Malik whose international career seems very close to an end while veteran pacer Wahab Riaz was also not considered by the selectors.

The 22-year-old Azam, the son of former Pakistan captain Moin Khan and nephew of PCB’s Director National High Performance Centre Nadeem Khan, also got a chance. However, the aggressive middle-order batsman will have to prove himself a potential candidate for a place in the national T20 team, keeping in mind this year’s ICC T20 World Cup being staged in October-November.

On the England tour, Pakistan will play three One-day Internationals and as many Twenty20 Internationals from July 8 to 20 before leaving for West Indies on July 21 to play five T20 Internationals and two Test matches there.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah’s inclusion in the Test team is subject to fitness as the wrist spinner is yet to fully recover from the knee injury that sidelined him from the Zimbabwe Tests. The selectors have retained leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood along with left-arm spinner Nauman Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan for the Jamaica Tests, besides recalling Abbas and Nasim. Uncapped Saud Shakeel has also reclaimed his spot after missing South Africa ODIs due to an injury.

Salman Ali Agha, who has lost his Test spot, has been called up for ODIs.

Left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman has maintained his place in the original squad after being drafted as an additional player for Zimbabwe T20s following a stellar performance in South Africa.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore on Friday, the chief selector termed Azam’s fitness level was good. Wasim reiterated his policy of selecting players not only on fitness level but also keeping in mind their skill level and other related aspects.

A trainer at the National High Performance Centre worked hard on Azam’s fitness level and it was good, the chief selector said.

It may be mentioned here that Wasim had selected dashing opener Sharjeel Khan for the last tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe for which the former faced lot of criticism over the player’s fitness status. Sharjeel, who played one T20 each against Proteas and the Zimbabwe, failed to give any significant performance.

To a question on which performance Imad and Haris were being recalled as both of them played no competitive cricket in the recent past, Wasim the duo have done well in the UAE, where the 2021 T20 World Cup could be shifted.

“The scenario has changed. There are chances that the T20 World Cup will be shifted to the UAE [from India] and both the players have good record in the UAE. That’s why they were considered,” the chief selector remarked.

“We also tested Asif Ali to strengthen our middle-order, which we feel is feeble, so Haris and Imad were given chances to make this important department strong.”

Some media reports suggest that Pakistan captain Babar Azam was not happy over dropping both Imad and Haris for the last tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.

According to the chief selector, the T20 team named on Friday was almost Pakistan’s World Cup side with possibility of a couple of changes before the mega event.

On the Test team selection, Wasim said the squad was almost stable, adding whenever a position fell vacant it would be plugged on merit keeping in view a number of factors, other than performance.

Wasim said due to time constraint the national squads for the series in England and West Indies had to be announced without judging the players’ performance in the Pakistan Super League, scheduled to resume in Abu Dhabi from June 9.

About the future of Wahab and Shoaib, the chief selector said no player had been ruled out and everyone could be re-selected if the team needed him.

On retaining Haider Ali who has not been able to perform consistently for the national team, Wasim said Asif Ali and Danish Aziz were tried but they failed. “However, Haider has been given another chance as a player is dropped not only on the basis of his performance but after thorough work on him is done.”

Meanwhile, chief selector in a statement said: “We have remained consistent in our selection and kept the same core of cricketers who have been in the set-up for a while. This is an extremely important and critical tour for Pakistan as we will be playing the ICC World Cup Super League ODIs against England as well as the T20 Internationals against England and West Indies as part of our preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup. The Jamaica Test will count towards the ICC World Test Championship.

“The [national] side since the home series against South Africa have maintained an upward movement but still there are a few loose ends that we would like to close by the end of the England and West Indies tours so that there is absolutely clarity on our compositions for the post West Indies tour engagements.

“I strongly believe the changes will plug those gaps and will put us in a strong position in our endeavours to feature in the top three across all formats by the end of 2023,” the chief selector stated.

Squads:

ODIs: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir

T20s: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Arshad Iqbal, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Usman Qadir.

Tests: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper, vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imran Butt, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Yasir Shah (subject to fitness), Zahid Mahmood

Tour itinerary:

June 25: Departure for Manchester

July 6: Arrival in Cardiff

July 8: First ODI, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

July 10: Second ODI, Lord’s

July 13: Third ODI, Edgbaston,

Birmingham

July 16: First T20 International, Trent Bridge, Nottingham

July 18: Second T20 International, Headingley, Leeds

July 20: Third T20 International, Old Trafford, Manchester

July 21: Arrival in Barbados

July 27: First T20 International, Kensington Oval, Barbados