Shan Masood misses out due to knee injury, no place for experienced pacer Wahab Riaz in the 16-member squad for the tour of Ireland and England.
Pakistan named a mix of youth and experience for their tour of Ireland and England, which begins in the second week of May.
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Usman Sallahuddin and Saad Ali received maiden Test call-ups. Shan Masood, the opener, misses out due to a knee injury while there was no place for experienced pacer Wahab Riaz in the 16-member squad announced by Inzamam-ul-Haq, the Pakistan Cricket Board chief selector, on Sunday 15 April.
Faheem Ashraf, the uncapped all-rounder, was also included in the Test squad on the back of some impressive performances in the shorter formats of the game. His medium pace will be a useful addition in seamer-friendly conditions.
Imam, the 22-year-old nephew of Inzamam who made a century on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka late last year, was given a chance in the longer format of the game.
Ali has been in stellar form in Pakistan's first-class circuit, having scored 3,473 runs in 50 games at an impressive 46.93. His highest score of 232 came earlier this season.
Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Sami Aslam and Babar Azam form the crux of the batting unit with Sarfraz Ahmed captaining the side and keeping wicket.
Mohammad Amir will lead a relatively inexperienced pace attack, which includes Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas and Rahat Ali.
Pakistan will be without the services of Yasir Shah, who misses out due to a hip injury. Attempting to make up for his absence will be Shadab Khan, who has played a solitary Test, against the Windies last year. Shadab is the only specialist spin-bowling option in the squad, with Haris Sohail's part-time slow left-arm orthodox potentially a useful addition.
"Yasir's absence is a big loss for us," said Inzamam. "If we look at his numbers for the last two years, he has more wickets than any other bowler for Pakistan. He was our strike bowler, all the games we've won he played a big part in. I hope he recovers quickly from his injury because we have some big home Test series coming up after this series too, and we will need him in the UAE."
Pakistan start their tour with a four-day warm-up game against Kent before playing a historic one-off Test against Ireland. The match on 11 May in Dublin will be Ireland’s first ever. Pakistan then travel to England for a two-Test series beginning on 24 May at Lord's.
Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (c, wk), Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Sami Aslam, Imam ul Haq, Babar Azam, Usman Sallahuddin, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Rahat Ali, Saad Ali, Faheem Ashraf
Trending News
-
1
1 All the squads for ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023
The squads are starting to roll in for this year's ICC Men's Cricket World Cup in India.
-
2 Match schedule announced for ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023
-
3 Race for top ODI team ranking hots up ahead of World Cup
-
4 USA to stage T20 World Cup: 2024-2031 ICC Men's tournament hosts confirmed
-
5 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup: All the kits revealed so far