Saeed Ajmal: “If we look at our spin bowling stocks then there are not many options. Noman Ali was selected again because there is no young spinner in Pakistan who is ready to play Tests”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Saeed Ajmal believes Noman Ali was only recalled to the Test team because “there is no young spinner in Pakistan”.
Ajmal, widely regarded as one of the best spinners Pakistan ever produced, feels that the national team could be facing a huge issue when it comes to spin bowling in the future as many youngsters aren’t interested in representing their country in the longest format.
He pointed out that the desire to play Test cricket is missing among young spinners and thus thinks the men in green will have to rely on senior players like Noman for the time being.
“If we look at our spin bowling stocks then there are not many options. Noman Ali was selected again because there is no young spinner in Pakistan who is ready to play Tests. Young spinners are not very fond of playing the longer format. Playing is one thing but the desire to play is another thing. I feel the desire to play the longer format is missing in youngsters,” the 47-year-old from Faisalabad was quoted as saying by PakPassion on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Noman didn’t feature in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, which they lost 2-0, or the Champions One-Day Cup, which was a 50-over competition held in Faisalabad.
He is now involved in the three-match Test series against England and took a total of 11 wickets in the second Test in Multan, which included career-best figures of 8-46 in the second innings.
The series is tied at 1-1 going into the third Test, which starts on October 24 in Rawalpindi.
Pakistan Squad for 2nd and 3rd Tests against England: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Muhammad Hurraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Zahid Mahmood.
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