Pakistan drop players after New Zealand rout CHIEF SELECTOR HITS BACK AT ‘PANIC’ CLAIM
PAKISTAN have dropped batsmen Shan Masood and Haris Sohail along with fast bowlers Mohammad Abbas and Naseem Shah in a wholesale shake-up last Friday (15) for the upcoming two-match Test series against South Africa.
The changes were forced after Pakistan lost both Tests on their tour of New Zealand where they failed in all three departments of the game.
Opener Masood had managed just 33 runs in the last eight Test innings since scoring 156 against England in August. He failed miserably in New Zealand where he scored just 10 in two matches with three zeros.
Left hander Sohail managed just 28 in two Tests in New Zealand, while the 17-yearold Shah and spearhead Abbas both managed to knock over just four wickets each in the two games in the series.
Left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar is the fifth player dropped from the last Test at Christchurch which Pakistan lost by an innings and 176 runs earlier this month.
But new chief selector Mohammad Wasim refused to accept the changes meant it was a “panic like situation”.
“No, it’s not panic,” said Wasim while announcing the squad.
“We have selected a squad after analysing the performance in New Zealand. Areas of improvement are identified.”
Wasim said Shah and Abbas were not up to the mark in New Zealand.
“Both Naseem and Abbas were lacking that bite so we have not included them in the squad which will be trimmed to 16 before the Test,” said Wasim.
South Africa arrived in the country last Saturday (16), and after a fiveday quarantine, will play the first Test in Karachi from next Tuesday (26).
The second Test will be in Rawalpindi from February 4 before three Twenty20 internationals on February 11, 13 and 14 – all in Lahore.
More consideration was given to performances in the just concluded domestic season, from where six uncapped players – Kamran Ghulam (batsman), Saud Shakil (batsman), Nauman Ali (left-arm spinner), Sajid Khan (off-spinner) Tabish Khan (fast bowler) and Agha Salman (batsman) – have been selected.
Ghulam, 25, created a record for most runs in a Quaid-e-Azam trophy tournament with 1,249, while Sajid took the most wickets with 67. Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (capt), Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Imran Butt, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Kamran Ghulam, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Yasir Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tabish Khan.