Haris Sohail could make his Test debut later this week
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Pakistan have called up four uncapped players – Haris Sohail, Usman Salahuddin, Mir Hamza and Bilal Asif – in their squad for the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates.
Sohail and Salahuddin are set to take the positions previously occupied by former captain Misbah-ul-Haq and batsman Younis Khan, who both retired from international cricket after Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies earlier this year.
Sohail has represented Pakistan in 22 ODIs and four Twenty20 Internationals to date, but has not played any international cricket since May 2015.
Salahuddin has played in two ODIs, both of which came in May 2011, while Asif has featured in three ODIs, the last of which came in November 2015. As for Hamza, he has not played any international cricket.
“I have been thinking of both Usman and Haris over the last few series, envisaging the situation after seniors [retired],” chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “Both have done well. Usman has done well as a middle-order batsman while Harris could have made it into the side in 2015 but was injured. So the idea is to give our youngsters an opportunity in our own conditions rather than playing them in away series.
“This will increase their confidence and both have the potential to fill in for Younis and Misbah. But it does not mean the door is shut on other players making it into the side. Performances will obviously be considered and, if a player is good enough, he can definitely be selected.”
Despite enjoying a lot of success during the three-match Twenty20 series against the World XI, opening batsman Ahmed Shehzad did not make the cut.
Shehzad made scores of 39, 43 and 89 respectively and ended up finishing as the second-highest scorer with 171 runs at an average of 57.
Shehzad was not the only player snubbed as Mohammad Rizwan suffered the same fate.
Meanwhile, batsman Azhar Ali and spinner Yasir Shah were both included in the squad after doubts emerged about whether they would be fit enough to play.
During a conditioning camp in Lahore, Azhar injured his knee and was subsequently forced to miss a two-day practice match, but since he is recovering well, Inzamam decided to add him to the squad.
“Azhar has a cyst in his knee and doctors have recommended he can play after taking injections to the knee. So he is fine now and available for selection, and hopefully he will remain fine all the way,” Inzamam said.
In regards to Yasir, he was almost axed due to his fitness levels. However, despite there being some concerns, he managed to pass the fitness test and found a place in the 16-man squad.
“We want to maintain our standard on fitness and we told Yasir to make it or it would be impossible for us to select him,” Inzamam said. “Yasir’s success over the last three-four years has been great but we don’t want to create an exception on fitness. So we waited a day, and that is why we are announcing the team today, on the day of the team’s departure. Yasir is cleared now, having scored a value of 17.5.”
Inzamam added that five pace bowlers and three spinners were selected for the Test series in order to manage the workload of the bowlers.
“We all understand that pitches in the UAE are a batting paradise, and there is a big opportunity for batsmen to score runs,” he said. “It’s really a big challenge to get any team out twice so we have to strengthen our bowling. That’s why we have five fast bowlers with three spinners in our squad. Since the temperature will be around 40 degrees Celsius, we probably have to consider rotating our fast bowlers as well.”
The first Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka gets underway on September 28 in Abu Dhabi.