Shaheen Afridi was removed from vice-captaincy: Pakistan has announced a 17-member squad led by Shan Masood for the two-match home Test series against Bangladesh. Kamran Ghulam and Mohammad Huraira, batsmen who have performed well in domestic cricket and for Pakistan Shaheen, are new faces in the team, while Imam-ul-Haq, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan have been dropped from the team. The names of injured fast bowlers Hasan Ali and Mohammad Hasan Junior were not discussed.
Naseem Shah returns after 14 months
At the same time, fast bowler Naseem Shah, who is recovering from injury, has returned to Test cricket after 13 months. Middle-order batsman Saud Shakeel has been made the vice-captain of the team and he will replace Shaheen Shah Afridi. Between August 2024 and April 2025, Pakistan has to play a total of nine Tests, 17 ODIs and 14 T20s, considering which this decision has been taken so that the workload of fast bowler Afridi can be managed.
Kamran Ghulam got the reward for this performance
At the same time, Kamran Ghulam, who performed brilliantly in domestic cricket, has got a place in the team. Ghulam scored 1025 runs in 11 first-class matches in the 2023-24 domestic season. Apart from this, he also scored an unbeaten century against Bangladesh A while playing for Pakistan Shaheen. He also came in the Test team in the home Test series against New Zealand in 2022-23, but he did not get a chance then.
First Test from 21
At the same time, Huraira recently scored a double century against Bangladesh A. He has scored 1024 and 961 runs respectively in the last two first-class domestic seasons. He was also a member of the Pakistani Test team against Sri Lanka in July 2023, but did not get a chance. Fast bowler Mohammad Ali has played two Test matches against England in 2022 and has returned. He took 47 wickets in 14 first-class matches this year and took a total of nine wickets in the match including six wickets in the innings against Bangladesh. The first match of this series will start on 21 August in Rawalpindi. The second match will be played in Karachi from 30 August to 3 September. The Pakistan team announced against Bangladesh is as follows:
Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafiq, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi