Taha, Sameer, Suleman earn maiden Test call-ups as Pakistan name squad for Sri Lanka
Pakistan's cricket board has announced a 14-man provisional squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka, with three new players earning their maiden call-ups.
Pakistan Cricket Board has announced a 14-man provisional squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka, with three new players earning their maiden call-ups.
Mohammad Taha, Sameer Minhas, and Mohammad Suleman have been included in the squad for the two-match ICC World Test Championship series, which begins in Rawalpindi on November 9 and moves to Lahore for the second Test.
Taha, a 26-year-old left-handed batter, has been in impressive form in the President's Trophy Grade-I, scoring 730 runs from seven games, including three hundreds. Suleman, a right-hander, has scored 652 runs with three centuries, while Sameer, in his first season of first-class cricket, has gathered 405 runs from seven matches.
The squad also includes established players like Babar Azam, who retains the captaincy, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, and Mohammad Abbas.
Two more fast bowlers will be selected from a PCB Patron's XI that takes on Sri Lanka in a three-day tour match from November 4 to 6.
The newcomers will get a chance to play in the warm-up game, which will also feature six members of the Test squad. The final squad will be confirmed after the tour match.
Pakistan's Test series against Sri Lanka is part of the ICC World Test Championship. The two teams will play two Tests, with the first Test starting on November 9 in Rawalpindi and the second Test on November 17 in Lahore.
Pakistan Test squad vs Sri Lanka
Babar Azam (capt), Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Taha, Razaullah, Saad Baig (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Sameer Minhas, Saud Shakeel
PCB Patron's XI
Saad Baig (capt, wk), Abdullah Fazal, Ali Shabbir, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Tayyab Arif, Mohammad Taha, Saqib Khan, Sameer Minhas, Shoaib Akhtar Jnr, Ubaid Shah
Schedule Pakistan vs Sri Lanka Test series
- November 4-6: Three-day match v PCB Patron's XI, Islamabad Club
- November 9-13: First Test, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium
- November 17-21: Second Test, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
