'We are trying to resurrect our Test side’ – Mickey Arthur

With ace spinner Yasir Shah ruled out of the two-Test series in England, Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur believes the time is right for the young team to gel as a unit and build a core of players that can play in all conditions.

Shah, who has taken 89 Test wickets in the last two years – more than any other Pakistani bowler – was ruled out of the tour because of a hip injury and was replaced by the one-Test-old Shadab Khan, a leg-spinner like Shah.

Khan, 19, has impressed in limited-overs cricket but the red-ball test away from home is likely to be challenging. With the team already in England and ready for their first warm-up game against Kent, Arthur feels watching Khan bowl in English conditions will be exciting.

“Any team would miss Yasir. He has the ability to hold the attack and control the game,” Arthur said.

“Shadab is incredibly exciting but also I am not sure that spin is going to be a huge factor given it's early season in England, so we have covered ourselves in the seam department.

“But Shadab can clean tails up because he has all the tricks. It is going to be exciting to see how he goes.”

Pakistan have picked five uncapped players in their squad as the team goes through a transition phase after the retirements of Misbah-ul-Haq and Younis. In such circumstances, the responsibility on some of the senior players becomes all the more crucial, one of them being Mohammad Amir, who marked his return to Test cricket at Lord's in 2016.

“He's our No. 1 bowler, we back him in tough situations. He generally gets it done for us,” Arthur said.

“We need him to get the ball swinging, we need him to get his length slightly fuller and if he gets that he's going to ask a lot of questions.”

Amir, who arrived in England on Wednesday 25 April, has been a regular for Pakistan in all three formats since making his return to international cricket in January 2016 after a five-year ban for spot fixing. Consequently, there have been questions regarding the management of his workload.

He will be assisted in this series by limited-overs sensation Hasan Ali and Mohammad Abbas – who is turning out for Leicestershire in the County Championships this season – in the seam department.

“We have had the workload debate for a long time now and every team has to do the same,” Arthur agreed. “We only have three weeks off in our calendar now before the World Cup next year, so we'd be silly not to arrive here with our bowlers fit and we know who they are – we have identified them – so we just have to manage them because ultimately want the best team to play in that 2019 World Cup.

“But also for us it is so important to win Test matches – we are a young team and we need to get our Test team right and to do that we have to build a core of players who can play at any given time. We are trying to resurrect our Test side, we feel we've got our white-ball cricket where we need it now, so we are really excited about this series, really excited to see these young guys come out and perform.”