Daily Times

LAHORE: Pakistan cricket selectors, headed by former Test captain MisbahulHaq, on Friday recalled wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed, pacer Sohail Khan, batsman Fawad Alam and uncapped batsman Haider Ali to a 29-member national squad named for the upcoming tour of England. The team are scheduled to play three Tests and as many Twenty20 Internationals in August-September in a bio-secure environment following the COVID-19 pandemic.Fast bowler Mohammad Amir and batsman HarisSohail pulled out of the tour on Thursday citing personal reasons. “Sending a combined squad is in accordance with the standard operating procedure for the series,”a spokesman for the PCB said in a statement.The selectors have also put Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz on standby to cover for any player who fails pre-tour COVID-19 testing scheduled later this month.The squad havea combination of red- and white-ball players, and the selectors will streamline the squads after reaching England.

Sarfaraz was dropped from the side last year in October and also sacked from the captaincy roleafter a sustained drop in both personal form and the team’s fortunes across formats. 36-year-old Sohail last played a Test against Australia in Melbourne in 2016.Pakistan Under-19 batsman Haider had an outstanding 2019-20 season, following which he earned an emerging contract for the 2020-21 season.He was Pakistan Under-19’s second most successful batsman with 317 runs against South Africa Under-19, fifth leading run-getter with 218 runs in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in Bangladesh, aggregated 645 runs – including a century in the final – at just under 50 in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, finished as Pakistan’s third-best batsman with 107 runs in the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2020 before contributing 239 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of over 158 for Peshawar Zalmi in the unfinished HBL Pakistan Super League 2020.Besides Haider, Sindh’s KashifBhatti is the other uncapped player in the side. Kashif was in the Test squad against Australia and Sri Lanka but did not play and was also named in the probables for the Rawalpindi Test against Bangladesh.Faheem Ashraf, Imran Khan, Khushdil Shah, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Hafeez, and WahabRiaz are also in the 29-players squad, who are not part of the PCB’s central contract.

During a virtual conference yesterday, head coach and chief selector Misbah said: “Sohail Khan has been recalled to further strengthen our fast bowling department.The selectors also felt he bowled much better in the 2019-20 domestic season than his figures reflected.”Misbah said he had talked to Wahab and he would be available for the Test series if needed. It must be noted that Wahabtook an indefinite break from the longest format of the game last year.”I talked to Wahab about this and he has agreed that, if needed, he will be available for practice as well as Test matches during the tour of England.”Misbah also spoke about former skipper Sarfaraz.”Sarfaraz is the second best wicketkeeper after Muhammad Rizwan. He is selected as back up for England tour on basis of his performance.”Misbah also opened up on the future of left-handed middle-order batsman Fawad.”In absence of Haris,Fawad might get an opportunity. But the final decision on whether to play him or not will depend on conditions and team requirements.”

Misbah said the series against England would be challenging as the players had not played any competitive cricket since March, while the home team would come following a series against the West Indies.”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.” He said the players had 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 Younus Khan that can help them post the England tour,” he concluded.

Pakistan’s tour will be taking place behind closed doors as part of unprecedented measures to stay safe from Covid-19. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has come up with extensive plans to keep Pakistan’s players in a bio-secure environment — likely to be in Birmingham initially — from the moment they land in the country.The Pakistan players and support staffers are expected to fly out later this month, at least five weeks before the series formally starts. Under current UK government rules, those arriving from outside the country will have to mandatorily undergo a 14-day quarantine period. The touring party will form a “bubble”, where they will not interact with anyone outside of the group, and regular tests for Covid-19 will be conducted on the tour.Pakistan will be the second side to tour England since the Covid-19 pandemic, with West Indies set to play three Tests in England starting July 8. Three West Indies players –ShimronHetmyer, Keemo Paul and Darren Bravo — withdrew from that tour, citing health-related concerns.

Pakistan squad:

Openers: Abid Ali,FakharZaman, Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood.

Middle-order batsmen: Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, AsadShafiq, FawadAlam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Malik.

Wicketkeepers: Mohammad Rizwan and Sarfaraz Ahmed.

Fast bowlers: Faheem Ashraf, HarisRauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, UsmanShinwari and WahabRiaz.

Spinners: ImadWasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.

Officials:

Misbah-ul-Haq(head coach), Shahid Aslam(assistant to head coach), Waqar Younis(bowling coach), Younus Khan (Batting coach), Mushtaq Ahmed (spin bowling coach for England tour), Dr SohailSaleem(team doctor for England tour), Abdul Majeed(fielding coach), Yasir Malik (strength and conditioning coach), Talha Butt (team analyst), Cliffe Deacon (physiotherapist), Malang Ali (masseur), MansoorRana(team manager), Col (r)UsmanRiffatAnwari(team security manager), Raza Rashid (team media manager).