Selector Aaqib Javed opened up on why Pakistan made the decision to leave out senior trio Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Babar Azam from the squad for the remaining two Tests against England.
On Sunday (October 13), Pakistan announced a 16-man squad for the two remaining Test matches against England, on the back of a humiliating defeat in Multan, as they became the first team in Test cricket history to lose by an innings after scoring 500.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a reshuffling of their selection panel later on the day of the defeat, with Aleem Dar, Aaqib Javed and Azhar Ali being appointed as voting members.
The panel met in Lahore late last week, before revealing Pakistan's squad for the last two Tests on Sunday. Senior players Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah were all left out, with as many as four uncapped players – Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Huraira, Mehran Mumtaz and Haseebullah – included. There were also recalls for Sajid Khan, Noman Ali and Zahid Mehmood.
Aaqib Javed: Babar, Naseem, Shaheen rested to regain fitness and confidence
In a statement released by the PCB, Aaqib Javed clarified why the senior trio had been left out: "Selecting the squad for the upcoming Tests against England has been a challenging task for the selectors. We’ve had to carefully consider current player form, the urgency to bounce back in the series and Pakistan’s demanding 2024-25 international schedule.
"With these factors in mind and in the best interest of Pakistan cricket as well as the players, we’ve made the decision to rest Babar Azam, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
“We are confident that this break from international cricket will help these players regain their fitness, confidence and composure, ensuring they return in top shape for future challenges. They remain some of our finest talents with much more to contribute to Pakistan cricket. We are fully committed to supporting them during this period so they can come back even stronger."
In the first Test, Babar scored 30 & 5, Shaheen took 1-120 and Naseem 2-157 as England racked up 823-7 on the way to winning by an innings and 47 runs.
In the second Test against Bangladesh, Shaheen and Naseem were also controversially left out. While Naseem was rested, speculation swirled over the reasons for Shaheen's exclusion.
The decision to rest Sarfaraz Ahmed is a strange one on the face of it, given the wicketkeeper's last match for Pakistan came in December 2023, nearly ten months ago.
The other player cut from the squad is Abrar Ahmed, who missed the last two days of the first Test due to illness, now confirmed to be dengue fever.
The second Test between Pakistan and England is set to start on October 15 in Multan, with the third one scheduled for October 24 in Rawalpindi.
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