Domestic performers Tabish Khan and Sajid Khan have got an inch closer to their Test debut as Pakistan named 17 instead of 16 players for the Test series against South Africa.
Left-arm off-spinner Nauman Ali and Karachi’s Saud Shakeel have also been awarded a spot among shortlisted players following their domestic performance.
Sajid and Nauman are respectively the highest and second-highest wicket-taker of Quaid-e-Azam (QeA) Trophy 2020-21 whereas Tabish, with 598 First-Class wickets and massive experience of playing in Karachi has been retained from the squad of 20.
Saud Shakeel got a place among 17 players after he finished as the second-highest run-scorer in QeA Trophy 2020-21. However, Kamran Ghulam, the highest run-scorer of QeA Trophy 2020-21, Agha Salman (third-highest run-scorer of QeA Trophy 2020-21) and Abdullah Shafiq missed out.
Read: Tabish finally comes closer to Test debut as team announced for SA series
On the other hand, Hasan Ali made a comeback in the national squad based on his match-saving performance in QeA Trophy 2020-21 final. Mohammad Nawaz has also been brought back in the red-ball format while Haris Rauf has made his maiden appearance in the national Test squad.
Squad
Openers – Abid Ali (Central Punjab) and Imran Butt (Balochistan)
Middle-order batsmen – Azhar Ali (Central Punjab), Babar Azam (captain, Central Punjab), Fawad Alam (Sindh) and Saud Shakeel (Sindh)
All-rounders – Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab) and Mohammad Nawaz (Northern)
Wicketkeepers – Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh)
Spinners – Nauman Ali (Northern), Sajid Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan)
Fast bowlers – Haris Rauf (Northern), Hasan Ali (Central Punjab), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) and Tabish Khan (Sindh)
