Wahab Riaz: “We needed someone who could cover for Shaheen Shah Afridi because he plays a lot of cricket as well and we wanted to cover all our bases”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan chief selector Wahab Riaz believes Mir Hamza is the perfect back up option for left-arm pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Hamza has plenty of domestic experience and is a new ball specialist, just like Afridi.
Wahab added that since Afridi plays a lot of cricket, his workload will need to be monitored. Due to this, it could result in him being rested now and again, which is where Hamza could get a chance to play.
“We needed someone who could cover for Shaheen Shah Afridi because he plays a lot of cricket as well and we wanted to cover all our bases,” the chief selector was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Afridi and Hamza are currently featuring in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, with the former having taken eight wickets in the first two Tests at an average of 41.62.
As for Hamza, he played in the second Test in Melbourne and took six wickets at an average of 13.83.
Pakistan are 2-0 down in the series and will look to claim a consolation win in the third Test, which gets underway on January 3 in Sydney.
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