Pakistan announce 29-man squad for England tour
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has declared the list of 29 players who will tour England later this year to play three Tests and three T20Is. Azhar Ali and Babar Azam will lead the Test and T20I teams respectively.
The list features the returning Sarfaraz Ahmed. U-19 star Haider Ali has also earned a place in the squad after his impressive performances in the 2019-20 season.
As per a PCB media release, Pakistan's coach-cum-selector Misbah-ul-Haq made the following statements while announcing the squad:
"The selectors have picked a squad which gives us the best chance of success in England. It was a challenging process as the players have not played for an extended period of time, but nevertheless, with the month that we will have in England and the intense training we will undergo, we are confident we will get the players up to the mark to be ready for the three Tests."
Sohail Khan and Sarfaraz Ahmed return to Pakistan squad
The 36-year-old right-arm pacer Sohail Khan has found a place in the national team for the first time in four years. He played his last Test match against Australia in 2016. Besides, Sarfraz Ahmed is back in the mix after being away from the international arena for almost nine months.
Misbah stated that red-ball cricket was the focal point of the team management while selecting the squad. He even pointed out that the English players would have enough match practice before the series against Pakistan, as Joe Root and co. will soon host the Windies at home.
Ultimately, the former Pakistani skipper said that he hopes the young names in the team can gain knowledge about the English conditions from Mushtaq Ahmed and Younis Khan.
Pakistan's Squad for the tour of England: Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali (Test captain), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz, Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.