Wahab Riaz: “With Mohammad Huraira, we will add him if there is space in the middle order”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz said he can’t pick batsman Muhammad Hurraira right now, but will add him into the national team “if there is space in the middle order.”
Hurraira is considered to be one of the top batting prospects in the country and has regularly scored runs in domestic cricket for the past couple of years.
In the 2023 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, the 21-year-old from Sialkot accumulated 496 runs in eight matches for Faisalabad Region, which included two fifties, at an average of 33.06.
He then featured in the Pakistan Cup and amassed 69 runs in five games at an average of 13.80.
Most recently, he was in action for Sialkot Region in the National T20 Cup and scored 273 runs in 10 matches, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 39 and a strike-rate of 136.50.
Despite having done well at the domestic level, Wahab reiterated that he doesn’t have any spot available for Hurraira at the moment.
“With Mohammad Huraira, we will add him if there is space in the middle order,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Hurraira wasn’t picked in Pakistan’s squad for the ongoing three-match Test series against Australia.
Pakistan lost the first Test in Perth by 360 runs before succumbing to a 79-run defeat in the second Test in Melbourne.
They will now look to claim a consolation win in the third Test in Sydney, which starts on January 3.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Nawaz and Shaheen Shah Afridi