The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced the national squad for the second Test match against England. They’ve decided to shake things up a bit by dropping some key players from the playing XI. Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Sarfaraz Ahmed have been dropped out.
Sources close to the national selection panel reported that these prominent players were dropped due to their recent poor performances, which overshadowed their previously acceptable displays over the years. Former captain Babar Azam, in particular, faced significant criticism for the team’s performance in several matches.
In the interest of playing stronger PCB has added six fresh players to the squad. The exception to this is Abrar Ahmed who will not be available for the games due to being ill and other players may come in as replacements.
Here is the complete squad of Pakistan for remaining test matches against England
Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Nauman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, and Zahid Mahmood.
In the first Test match against England, Pakistan suffered a historic defeat, becoming the first team ever to lose a match by an innings after posting over 500 runs in their first innings.