Pakistan announced Saud Shakeel as their new vice-captain ahead of the home series against Bangladesh. The series will begin later this month. The left-handed batter replaced fast bowler Shaheen Afridi as the vice-captain. The Pakistan Cricket Board decided to manage the latter’s workload in the upcoming months.
Shakeel’s first Test as a lieutenant to skipper Shan Masood will come against Bangladesh. The two teams play a two-test series starting in Rawalpindi on August 21. The second Test will be held in Karachi on August 30.
The selectors made plenty of changes to this team. They dropped opener Imam-ul-Haq from the squad. At the same time, Mohammad Waseem Jr. and fellow seamer Hasan Ali were not considered due to injury.
Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Noman Ali, and Sajid Khan were also excluded from the squad. They will hope to come back into the reckoning with good performances on the domestic circuit. Batters Mohammad Huraira and Kamran Ghulam were included in the squad after performing well domestically.
Former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie takes charge of Pakistan as their head coach for the first time. All eyes will be on him and the rest of his staff.
Pakistan are currently ranked fifth in the World Test Championship table. They are hopeful of picking up consecutive victories against Bangladesh in this series and inching forward. The selectors have brought back Naseem Shah and Mohammad Ali to the squad after a lengthy absence for this sole reason.
Pakistan Squad
Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Aamir Jamal (subject to Fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Afridi.
