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Pakistan have named a 16-member squad for the first Test towards England at Old Trafford, Manchester, beginning Wednesday, 5 August. Former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has been named within the squad whereas quick bowler Wahab Riaz, who had made himself out there for Test cricket after taking an indefinite break from the format in 2019, has been excluded. The squad has been trimmed down from the 20-strong group that had been chosen final month. Pakistan play two extra Tests within the collection, which is a part of the World Test Championship, in Southampton starting August 13 and 21 respectively.
“The preparations have gone really well for the past month, we’ve trained really hard and used all the facilities organised by the ECB,” mentioned captain Azhar Ali. “We are very thankful – in Worcester and Derby we had all the things we could hope for. We are very much prepared for the Test match. You can’t replicate Test cricket in the practice games, of course, but whatever opportunity we had we tried to prepare ourselves.”
The tempo assault contains of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Abbas and Sohail Khan. Between them they’ve performed solely 39 Tests compared with England’s James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who’ve practically 300 Tests between them. Ali admitted that the tempo assault is not excessive on expertise however banked on the “talented” quick bowlers.
“They are very talented, obviously not as experienced as some of the bowling attacks that have come to England in the past but potentially, they are right up there. I’m sure they are very much ready,” Ali mentioned.
“It could have been really hard coming out of lockdown and all that in Pakistan, to get ready for a Test match in five- or six-weeks’ time. They have done really well and the team management has prepared them really well so they are ready for the Test match.”
All eyes can be set on Azam, Pakistan’s No. four and an important cog within the wheel. Azam has been Pakistan’s go-to man with the bat in restricted overs cricket, averaging over 50 in each ODIs and T20Is, however hasn’t fairly been in a position to get comparable returns in Tests the place he averages 45.12.
“His performances have improved massively in Test matches over the last year or so,” Ali mentioned of Babar, who comes off a century towards Bangladesh in his final Test.
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Sarfaraz Ahmed would compete with Mohammad Rizwan for the wicket-keeper’s slot whereas there may very well be a contest between the skilled Yasir Shah and the younger Shadab Khan for the spinner’s position.
Full squad: Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam (vc), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Imam-ul-Haq, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah.
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