Shaheen back for Pakistan for Sri Lanka Tests
View(s):KARACHI, AFP, June 17, 2023: Lanky pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi was named on Saturday in Pakistan’s 16-man squad to play two Tests in Sri Lanka next month — his first outing in the long form of the game in a year. The 23-year-old injured a knee in Sri Lanka last July and missed Pakistan’s home Test series against Australia, England and New Zealand.
Shaheen, who has 99 wickets in 25 Tests, featured in the Twenty20 World Cup in Australia last year, but injured the same knee in the final. He is back to full fitness, however, and played in the Pakistan Super League as well as featuring in the T20I and ODI series against New Zealand earlier this year.
Prolific young batter Mohammad Huraira and allrounder Aamer Jamal have been picked for the first time.
Huraira, 21, scored 986 runs in his first domestic season in 2021 and during the course became the second youngest Pakistani behind Javed Miandad to hit a triple hundred. He again topped the chart last year with a tally of 1,024.
The two-match Sri Lanka series will be Pakistan’s first assignment in the new World Test Championship cycle, which runs from 2023 to 2025. The squad will assemble in Karachi on July 3 for a camp before departing for Sri Lanka on July 9. The itinerary of the tour has not been announced yet.
| Pakistan Test Squad vs Sri Lanka: Babar Azam (Capt), Abdullar Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Muhammad Hurraira, Saud Shakeel, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Agha Salman, Mohammad Nawaz, Aamer Jamal, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Noman Ali, Naseem Shah
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