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Pakistan announce 29-player extended squad for England tour, youngster Haider Ali's inclusion creates Buzz

WION Web Team
New Delhi, IndiaUpdated: Jun 12, 2020, 01:03 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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Pakistan tour of England: An extended 29-man squad has been sent by the PCB, including white-ball specialists, in accordance with series SOPs in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and will remain in England from start to end of the tour. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced a 29-man squad for three Tests and as many T20Is against England slated to be played in August-September. An extended squad has been sent by the PCB, including white-ball specialists, in accordance with series SOPs in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and will remain in England from start to end of the tour. 

Highly rated Haider Ali has been named in the squad and it would be a perfect opportunity to hand a debut. Haider has been among runs in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in Bangladesh, Quaid-e-Azam trophy and ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup 2020 before having a blistering campaign for Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League 2020.

Sohail Khan, who last played a Test for Pakistan in 2016, has also be named in the extended squad after impressive performances in the domestic circuit.

The Pakistan selection committee further named the likes of Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz.

Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz have been named as four reserves in case any of the players fail pre-tour COVID-19 tests, which will be carried out on June 20 and 25. 
Both Mohammad Amir and Haris Sohail have pulled out of the England tour citing personal reasons.

Pakistan 29-player squad for England tour:

Openers (4) – Abid Ali (Sindh, Lahore Qalandars), Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore Qalandars), Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan, Peshawar Zalmi) and Shan Masood (Southern Punjab, Multan Sultans)

Middle-order batsmen (9) – Azhar Ali (captain) (Central Punjab), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain) (Central Punjab, Karachi Kings), Asad Shafiq (Sindh, Multan Sultans), Fawad Alam (Sindh), Haider Ali (Northern, Peshawar Zalmi), Iftikhar Ahmad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi Kings), Khushdil Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Multan Sultans), Mohammad Hafeez (Southern Punjab, Lahore Qalandars) and Shoaib Malik (Southern Punjab, Peshawar Zalmi)

Wicketkeepers (2) - Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi Kings) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators)

Fast bowlers (10) – Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab, Islamabad United), Haris Rauf (Northern, Lahore Qalandars), Imran Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab, Quetta Gladiators), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern, Lahore Qalandars), Sohail Khan (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators), Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore Qalandars) and Wahab Riaz (Southern Punjab, Peshawar Zalmi)

Spinners (4) – Imad Wasim (Northern, Karachi Kings), Kashif Bhatti (Sindh), Shadab Khan (Northern, Islamabad United) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan, Peshawar Zalmi).

Commenting on the squad, chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said: “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.

“But the main focus of the selectors has been red-ball cricket, which we will play for nearly two months with the T20Is to be played at the backend of the ICC World Test Championship fixtures.

“The series against England will be challenging as our players have not played any competitive cricket since March, while the home team will come following a series against the West Indies. This means we will have to hit the ground running as soon as we land in England and make the best use of the training sessions and match practice before we enter the first Test.

“The players have also been selected with one eye on the future. I want these players to acquire as much cricket knowledge as possible from the additional backroom staff of Mushtaq Ahmed and Younis Khan that can help them post the England tour.

“Sohail Khan has been recalled to further strengthen our fast bowling department. He had two five-fors when he last played in England in 2016. The selectors also felt he bowled much better in the 2019-20 domestic season than his figures reflected.”

Officials:

Misbah-ul-Haq – Head Coach

Shahid Aslam – Assistant to Head Coach

Waqar Younis -  Bowling Coach

Abdul Majeed – Fielding Coach

Yasir Malik – Strength and Conditioning Coach

Talha Butt – Team Analyst

Cliffe Deacon – Physiotherapist

Malang Ali – Masseur

Mansoor Rana – Team Manager

Col Usman Riffat Anwari (retd) – Team Security Manager

Raza Rashid – Team Media Manager

Additional team management:

Younis Khan – Batting Coach for England tour

Mushtaq Ahmed – Spin bowling coach for England tour

Dr Sohail Saleem – Team Doctor for England tour