As a replacement for Azhar Ali who has retired from international cricket, an uncapped batter was selected to play against New Zealand at home.
Pakistan selected Kamran Ghulam, an uncapped middle-order hitter, and Hasan Ali, a fast bowler, for the upcoming two-match Test series against New Zealand.
It has continued to be difficult for Shaheen Shah Afridi to play cricket due to a knee injury he sustained in the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup.
The team has added Naseem Shah after he was given the all-clear to return from a shoulder ailment, which prevented him from playing in the last two Tests against England.
In addition to Haris Rauf, who was injured in his first Test against England and missed the following two matches, he has also been kept out while he recovers.
It was also his first time playing Test cricket, as Ghulam was also selected for the Bangladesh series last year, but was not given a game.
Throughout his first-class career, he has scored 3268 runs off 10 hundreds and 18 half-centuries, with an average of 47.36. A replacement for Azhar Ali, he has scored 3268 runs off 10 hundreds and 18 half-centuries.
In the 2020–21 competition, Ghulam had scored a record 1249 runs for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as part of KP’s Quaid-e-Azam Trophy-winning team.
A number of his excellent recent performances have been displayed in the one-day format this month, as he recorded 92, 0, 123, and 98 wickets for the Pakistan Cup. The QeA Trophy was his previous competition, where he averaged 42.64 runs over 14 innings and scored 597 runs.
Hasan Ali was benched for England’s 3-0 series win over the visitors, but has been added back to the squad. The last Test match he played was against Sri Lanka in Galle in July.
It was revealed today that Mohammad Ali, the fastest bowler, and bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, the bowling all-rounder, will no longer be included in the lineup for the upcoming series and will instead be encouraged to compete in the Pakistan Cup, which is taking place right now.
The Pakistan Cricket Board reported that Haris Rauf was still injured.
“Due to his injury incurred while fielding in the Rawalpindi Test, Haris Rauf was not selected for the team. Naseem Shah, a fast bowler, has been deemed healthy and, as a result, has been retained in the squad despite missing the Multan and Karachi Tests owing to a shoulder niggle“
read PCB’s statement.
The first Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand will take place in Karachi on December 26 and the second in Multan on January 3.
This will be Pakistan’s first home series since losing to England and falling to seventh place in the World Test Championship points table, one place ahead of defending champions New Zealand.
Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (capt), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Agha Salman, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood and Zahid Mehmood
