Follow UsPakistan have named opening batter Saim Ayub, fast-bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf and pacers Mir Hamza and Khurram Shahzad in their 18-man squad for the upcoming tour of Australia, starting next month.
The squad will be led by the newly-appointed red-ball captain, Shan Masood. Pakistan are scheduled to play three Tests Down Under: Perth (December 14-18), Melbourne (December 26-30) and Sydney (January 3-7).
Ayub has featured in eight T20Is for Pakistan but is yet to make his Test debut. The 21-year-old smashed scores of 203 and 109 in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final. Overall, the young opener has 1069 runs in 14 first-class games, averaging 46.47.
Meanwhile, Shahzad is yet to play for Pakistan but has much more experience than Ayub. The right-arm seamer has 135 first-class wickets at an average of 29.08. He was the leading wicket-taker in the 2023-24 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, picking up 36 wickets @ 20.30.
The left-arm quick, Hamza was the second-highest wicket-taker (32 scalps at 20.87). The 31-year-old has played three Tests, but only has two wickets to his name. Faheem Ashraf, who last played a Test in December 2022, has also been brought back.
Naseem Shah is yet to recover from his shoulder injury, while Haris Rauf made himself unavailable for the selection. The latter had a terrible 2023 World Cup, picking up 16 wickets at an average of 33.31 and an economy rate of 6.74.
"We spoke to Haris Rauf for this tour. When we spoke to him two days ago, he gave his consent to play Test cricket for Pakistan. But last night he changed his mind, and now he doesn't want to be part of this Test series," said Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz.
"I'm revealing this because we should be honest with officials, team-mates, and the public. We spoke to Haris and he was worried about his body and fitness, as well as his workload. Mohammad Hafeez and I sat with him and tried to facilitate him in every way. We told him even if he didn't perform well there, we would accept it.
"Our physio spoke to him and said he wouldn't expect any issue or injury. Of course, there's fatigue, but we were sure we could have managed that very well. But he pulled out at the last moment and he made himself unavailable. I think this will hurt Pakistan cricket.
"We spoke to the captain and coach, and we said we view Haris Rauf as an impact bowler. We weren't demanding more than 10-12 overs a day. The only issue is when you say you're available for Pakistan, especially at a time when our three main high-pace bowlers, who can bowl over 140 (kmph) other than Haris are unavailable. At some point, you need to sacrifice to play for your country. Haris was committed to us, and pulled out after two days."
This will be a big series for Babar Azam, who resigned as the Pakistan team captain from all formats last week. The last time Pakistan played a Test series in Australia was in 2019. They lost both games by an innings but Babar managed to hit 210 runs in four innings @ 52.50.
Pakistan haven’t won a Test in Australia since 1995.
Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (c), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Nauman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Afridi.