Promising young batsman, Haider Ali, has been named in Pakistan's 29-man squad for the tour of England in August-September after showing outstanding form in the last season, for which the right-hander earned an emerging contract for the upcoming year.
Haider. 19, was fantastic during the recent Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, aggregating 645 runs, including a century in the final, at an average just below 50 for Rawalpindi. He followed that up with runs in the U-19 World Cup in South Africa and caught the limelight via 239 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of over 158 for Peshawar Zalmi in league-phase of later suspended Pakistan Super League (PSL).
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Besides Haider, Kashif Bhatti, Sindh's spin bowling all-rounder, is another uncapped player part of the enlarged squad. Kashif has been with the side since the tour of Australia late last year without being considered for a slot in the playing XI.
Fast bowler Sohail Khan has been recalled, having last turned up for Pakistan in 2016, on the back of good form shown in first-class cricket and the PSL.
"An extended squad, including white-ball specialists, is being sent to England as the players, in accordance with series SOPs in the wake of COVID-19 will remain in England from start to finish," reads the PCB media release.
Details of the series are yet to be confirmed, but it is highly likely the three-Test and three-T20I series will be conducted in a bio-secure bubble, without any crowd presence and in adherence with the highest safety protocols due to the ongoing pandemic.
Apart from Haider, Kashif, Sohail and the centrally contracted players, excluding Haris Sohail, the selectors have named Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz for the tour.
Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz have been announced as covers in case any of the players fail pre-tour COVID-19 testing, which will be carried out on June 20th and 25th.
Hassan Ali, Mohammad Amir and Haris weren't available for selection. While Hassan couldn't be picked because of his back injury and Amir withdrew because of the expected birth of his second child in August, Haris decided not to travel because of health concerns amid the pandemic.
The breakdown of the 29-player squad is:
Openers (4) – Abid Ali (Sindh, Lahore Qalandars), Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore Qalandars), Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan, Peshawar Zalmi) and Shan Masood (Southern Punjab, Multan Sultans)
Middle-order batsmen (9) – Azhar Ali (captain) (Central Punjab), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain) (Central Punjab, Karachi Kings), Asad Shafiq (Sindh, Multan Sultans), Fawad Alam (Sindh), Haider Ali (Northern, Peshawar Zalmi), Iftikhar Ahmad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi Kings), Khushdil Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Multan Sultans), Mohammad Hafeez (Southern Punjab, Lahore Qalandars) and Shoaib Malik (Southern Punjab, Peshawar Zalmi)
Wicketkeepers (2) - Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi Kings) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators)
Fast bowlers (10) – Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab, Islamabad United), Haris Rauf (Northern, Lahore Qalandars), Imran Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab, Quetta Gladiators), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern, Lahore Qalandars), Sohail Khan (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators), Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore Qalandars) and Wahab Riaz (Southern Punjab, Peshawar Zalmi)
Spinners (4) – Imad Wasim (Northern, Karachi Kings), Kashif Bhatti (Sindh), Shadab Khan (Northern, Islamabad United) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan, Peshawar Zalmi).
