Pakistan’s recently-appointed chief selector Wahab Riaz has rung in the changes in his first assignment in the job as the 18-member squad picked for the upcoming three-Test tour of Australia including call-ups for 21-year-old batter Saim Ayub and 23-year-old pacer Khurram Shahzad.
Ayub, a left-handed opener, has stormed into the national side reckoning with an incredible performance in the domestic tournament – Quaid-e-Azam trophy 2023-24, with 553 runs in four matches for Karachi Whites that includes a match-winning double hundred. He carried that form into the Pakistan Cup, the one-day tournament in the domestic circuit, where he finished as the leading run-getter.
“Saim Ayub has been added to the squad after the extraordinary domestic season he has had this year,” Riaz said of the selection. “He has impressed with the bat during the Quaid-e-Azam trophy and Pakistan Cup, pushing the case for his selection. His inclusion will strengthen our solid batting line-up.”
Shahzad’s selection is also based on his strong domestic performance as he finished his Quaid-e-Azam campaign with 36 wickets at an average of 20.31 in in eight matches, and then picked 13 wickets at 16.62 in the Pakistan Cup.
The tour also sees the return of the pace duo of Mir Hamza and Mohammad Wasim Jr., while all-rounder Faheem Ashraf is back too. While Ashraf returns after having last played a Test during England’s tour of Pakistan in late 2022, Hamza and Wasim Jr. featured in the home series against New Zealand earlier this year. Hamza is coming off an excellent domestic season too, with 32 wickets at 20.88.
“The squad has been assembled keeping in mind the challenging Australian conditions,” Riaz said. “We have kept the pitches in mind and added more pace bowling resources to the team to ensure that the management can be flexible with the team combinations in all three Test matches.”
This will be Pakistan’s second assignment in the World Test Championship cycle of 2023-25. In their first, they beat Sri Lanka 2-0 at the latter’s home to rise to the top of the WTC table.
“Pakistan has started off the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 really well, after their success in Sri Lanka earlier this year. We hope that the team can carry this momentum ahead in Australia as well. We have tried to ensure that the team has all relevant resources to find success in Australia,” Riaz opined.
The Pakistan squad will have a camp from November 23 to 28 in Rawalpindi before flying to Australia from Lahore. The first of the three-match series, begins on December 14 in Perth.
