PCB announces 29-member extended squad for England tour

LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced a 29-member extended squad for three Tests and three T20Is against England to be played in August-September.

The series is being played in accordance with series SOPs in the wake of COVID-19 and all players will remain in England from start to finish.

Under-19 batsman Haider Ali has been included in the squad and the player to look out for. Haider had an outstanding 2019-20 season which earned him an emerging contract for the 2020-21 season.

Besides Haider, Kashif Bhatti is the other uncapped player in the side. Kashif was in the Test squad against Australia and Sri Lanka but did not play and was also named in the probables for the Rawalpindi Test against Bangladesh.

Fast bowler Sohail Khan has returned to the team. His last Test was in 2016 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. During the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20, he took 22 wickets in nine matches.

Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz have been named in the squad.

The selectors have also named four reserves in Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz as a cover in case any of the players fail pre-tour COVID-19 testing, which will be carried out on 20 and 25 June.

Bowlers Hasan Ali and Mohammad Amir, and middle-order batsman Haris Sohail were not available for selection. Hasan is suffering from a back injury, while Amir and Haris took the option of pulling out of the tour.

Commenting on the squad, chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said the selectors have picked a squad that gives them the best chance of success in England.

Misbah said the series against England will be challenging as players have not played any competitive cricket since March, while the home team will have played a series against West Indies.

Misbah hoped that players would acquire as much cricket knowledge as possible from the additional backroom staff of Mushtaq Ahmed and Younis Khan who have been appointed as coaches for the England tour.

The breakdown of the 29-player squad is:

Openers – Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, and Shan Masood

Middle-order batsmen – Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (T20I Captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.

Wicketkeepers- Mohammad Rizwan and Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Fast bowlers – Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari and Wahab Riaz.

Spinners – Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.