LAHORE: Pakistan chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq held a mediaconference on Saturday at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore and announced the16-man squad led by Azhar Ali for the first ICC World Test Championshipfixture against Bangladesh.
The selectors have recalled off-spinner Bilal Asif at the back of his 43wickets in nine Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches, while Faheem Ashraf has beendrafted in the side due to his all-round skills that were backed by his sixwickets in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final against Northern.
Two changes have been made in the side that was named for the two ICC WorldTest Championship Tests against Sri Lanka. Kashif Bhatti and Usman Shinwarihave been left out, but they remain in the red-ball plans and have beenadvised to continue their training and preparation.
While Kashif didn’t play against Sri Lanka, Usman made his only appearancein the Rawalpindi Test where he took one for 54. The first Test matchbetween Pakistan and Bangladesh will be played at the Rawalpindi CricketStadium from February 7-11.
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Squad
Azhar Ali (captain), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Bilal Asif, FaheemAshraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan Snr, MohammadAbbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi,Shan Masood, Yasir Shah
