Rehan Ahmed returns as England name three spinners in their XI for third Test against Pakistan

The England cricket team has announced the playing XI for the third and final Test against Pakistan, beginning on October 24 in Rawalpindi. They have made two changes to the playing XI as leggie Rehan Ahmed has found a place to join the spin duo of Shoaib Bashir and Jack Leach.

With Rehan replacing Brydon Carse in the XI, the second change is bringing in right-arm speedster Gus Atkinson in place of Matthew Potts. Atkinson played in the opening Test in Multan, but didn't feature in the second hosted by the same venue. The Surrey speedster took figures of 39-7-145-4 across two innings as England romped to an innings victory.

Nevertheless, Pakistan bounced back to level the series in the second Test with a 152-run win. On what was a considerably spinning surface, the tourists failed to chase down 297, with Noman Ali taking eight wickets.

England playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Gus Atkinson, Rehan Ahmed, Shoaib Bashir, Jack Leach.

Rehan Ahmed had made his Test debut for England in Pakistan in 2022

Meanwhile, Rehan had taken seven wickets when he made his first Test appearance in 2022 against Pakistan in Karachi. The 20-year-old took two wickets in the first innings of that Test and followed it up with a fifer in the second, dismissing Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, and Mohammad Wasim.

Nevertheless, the youngster has taken only 11 wickets in his next six innings and last played a Test earlier this year against India. However, the wrist-spinner will be expected to bring his A-game, given he is playing his first game of the series. The conditions are also likely to be spin-friendly in Rawalpindi.

Should Pakistan win the Test, it will be their first home series win since 2021. However, they are nearly out of contention to reach the World Test Championship (WTC) final next year.