Lahore
Pakistan on Monday decided to unleash their next generation of pace sensations Musa Khan and Naseem Shah, along with teenage Shaheen Shah Afridi, in Australia by naming the trio in the 16-man squad for next month’s World Test Championship fixtures.
The three quicks will join 14-Test veteran Mohammad Abbas and fast-bowler Imran Khan Senior, who has been recalled after playing his ninth and final Test in Sydney in January 2017, as the Pakistan cricket selectors have taken an attacking and aggressive approach for the upcoming Tests,while also looking at the future.
The 19-year-old Musa from Islamabad has played seven first-class matches in which he has taken 17 wickets, while Lahore’s 16-year-old Naseem has also claimed 17 wickets in five first-class matches.
In the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20, Musa has picked up five wickets in four matches and Naseem has bagged nine wickets in three matches.
Both fast-bowlers, regular features of the Pakistan junior sides, are regarded as the quickest on the domestic circuit, regularly touching 145kph on the speed gun, with tremendous potential and bright futures.
In the ongoing National T20 Cup, Khushdil has scored 93 runs for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at an impressive strike-rate of over 160. Khushdil was the second highest run-getter in the Pakistan Cup 2019, scoring 316 runs at 105.33 with the help of two centurieswhile Usman has taken four wickets at an economy-rate of under seven.
In the Test side, the selectors, apart from Musa and Naseem, have also named uncapped opener Abid Ali, who has scored 7,000 first-class runs in 104 matches, including 300 runs in the two Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches to date, and left-arm spinner Kashif Bhatti. The 33-year-old Kashif has taken 10 wickets in the current season, while in an 83-match first-class career, spanning over 12 years, he has taken 327 wickets.
‘Besides adding speed and venom in our pace attack, we have strengthened our spin department by including an experienced Kashif Bhatti to support Yasir Shah. Yasir has matured and gained experience since his last tour to Australia, and he remains our most successful bowler in the Test format. He said ‘Our Test batting is experienced, talented and pretty settled, so, we have not tweaked it much, except including prolific Abid Ali in place of Fakhar Zaman and adding Iftikhar Ahmed, who can also bowl off-spin. We have a strong batting line that we expect to perform in the two Tests’.
‘For the T20s, Mohammad Irfan has been rewarded for the form he has shown recently. Based on horses for courses and his form, the Australian conditions will present Irfan with the opportunity to excel. This selection has also been made while looking at next year’s ICC T20 World Cup, which will be played in Australia. If we can successfully manage his workload, then he can be a valuable asset for us in next global event.
The T20I side will depart for Sydney on 26 October, while the Test players will leave for Perth after featuring in the fifth round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, which will be played from 28-31 October.
Pakistan squads for Australia tour (age and team names in brackets): T20Is (average age of the side is 26) Babar Azam (captain) (25, Central Punjab),Asif Ali (28, Northern), Fakhar Zaman (29, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Haris Sohail (30, Balochistan), Iftikhar Ahmed (29, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa),Imad Wasim (30, Northern), Imam-ul-Haq (23, Balochistan),Khushdil Shah (24, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Amir (27, Northern),
Mohammad Hasnain (19, Sindh), Mohammad Irfan (37, Southern Punjab), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper) (27, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Musa Khan (17, Northern), Shadab Khan (21, Northern), Usman Qadir (26, Central Punjab), Wahab Riaz (34, Southern Punjab).
Tests (average age of the side is 27), Azhar Ali (captain) (34, Central Punjab), Abid Ali (32, Sindh), Asad Shafiq (33, Sindh), Babar Azam (25, Central Punjab), Haris Sohail (30, Balochistan), Imam-ul-Haq (23, Balochistan), Imran Khan Snr (32, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Iftikhar Ahmed (29, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Kashif Bhatti (33, Sindh), Mohammad Abbas (29, Southern Punjab), Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper) (27, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Musa Khan (17, Northern), Naseem Shah (16, Central Punjab), Shaheen Shah Afridi (19, Northern), Shan Masood (30, Southern Punjab) 16. Yasir Shah (33, Balochistan)
Series Schedule
31 October – T20 warm-up match v CA XI, Bankstown, Sydney 3 November – 1st T20I, Sydney 5 November – 2nd T20I, Canberra 8 November – 3rd T20I, Perth 11-13 November – Three-day match v CA XI, Optus Stadium, Perth (d/n) 15-16 November – Two-day match v CA XI, WACA, Perth 21-25 November – 1st Test, Brisbane 29 November-3 December – 2nd Test, Adelaide (d/n).—APP
