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[PICTURES] 18-member Test squad announced for Australia tour

Markhor said:
There's no squad Wahab could've picked to give us a cat in hell's chance of winning in Australia.

Contrary to popular belief, our bowlers not our batsmen are the biggest reason for our awful Australia record. Forget 20 wickets - Pakistan haven't taken 10 wickets in 5 out of the last 7 innings in Australia. On those 2 occasions we did, we conceded 429 and 580 !

This attack's scarcely any better and is a reflection of the lack of bowling depth in Pakistan. In Australia you need guys with decent pace who hit the deck hard and rely more on seam than swing through the air, with height being a bonus but not compulsory.

Sadly there aren't many in Pakistan fitting that bill. Hasan Ali and Mir Hamza will be cannon fodder. Three pace bowling ARs is overkill and none are worldbeaters.

A semi-competitive Test or two is the height of my expectations.
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You need to hit those in between lengths at 135 + kph with the odd bouncer .

Taller release points are good but not necessary.

Not sure why Mir Hamza type trundlers who struggle to clock 130 are selected. He has no chance over there.
 
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An Australian tour is a dumpster fire for us anyways. Might aswell give away debuts to new guys and make run like Modi in the World cup podium
 
I am satisfied that we are going with bowlers who have decent red ball bowling under their belt instead of usual uncooked raw teenager who bowls one good special and then disappears

Not saying we will do great but give them a chance Aus pitches have been better past couple of summers for bowlers so you never know
 
He’s a cover for Shaheen
 
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Rana said:
Who cares? He has built his brand by playing fearlessly. He will continue to thrive as long as he is fearless.
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Do you not know that if Saim does play and if he fails they will drop him or not pick him in the t20 squad.
 
Based on experience

Waseem Jr has played only 7 First Class Games.
Aamir Jamal 27
Khurram Shezad 44
Mir Hamza 105

Waseem Jr looks like a bad selection.
 
Vikram1989 said:
Why Imam and nauman ali got selected.Imam can't play bouncers and the first match is in Perth.Nauman Ali will achieve nothing. They can get few overs of spin from Agha and no need of any spinner to have 7 batsmen.They should have got another middle order batsmen.
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Nauman won't play in the xi it will be Abrar.
 
Logically, if I was the selector I would have picked the same 18
But sadly, the team on paper looks very weak especially the bowling
 
There is a disgusting lack of pace in that team. Haris Rauf should have made himself available. I'm not saying that he's getting anything but carted around like most Pakistani bowlers there BUT pace is ESSENTIAL in Aus. You have to keep the pressure up on both ends and preserve the intensity. Shaheen on one end and Rauf the other at the very least creates some element of risk during the onslaught phase where Pakistan can prize a couple of scalps.

With the attack going there is no risk. Similar to when Amir went, they held up that end and belted the other bowler risk free. Listen even Wasim, Waqar and Shoaib took their fair share of blows but with Rauf there is at least that intensity and hope of rushing a batsman into a mistake.

Rauf would only get better from the experience once he goes back to more favourable conditions after. Furthermore Rauf has a decent record in Australia from white ball cricket which presents some knowledge of the tracks that while not impacting the results would be beneficial for the confidence of the team.

Obviously I don't know the ins and outs of Rauf's situation injury wise and where his head is at but it's disappointing not to see our fastest bowler and somewhat experienced head go out there.
 
I think he should have added Kamran Ghullam and Sameen Gull in the squad.

My xi now would be

Imaam
Abdullah
Babar
Shan
Saud Shakeel
Rizwan
Fahim Ashraf
Wasim Jnr/Jamal
Shaheen
Abrar Ahmed
Khurram Shezad

Agha Salman will get smashed as a spinner.
 
FearlessRoar said:
Saim Ayub and Khurram Shahzad named in national Test squad for the first time

Faheem Ashraf, Mir Hamza and Mohammad Wasim Jnr make returns to the Test side

Chief selector Wahab Riaz has announced an 18-member Pakistan Test squad for the tour to Australia comprising three matches scheduled from 14 December 2023 to 7 January 2024. This will be Wahab’s first assignment since he took charge of the national men’s selection committee last week.

Shan Masood will be leading the side in his first assignment as Test captain. He was named Pakistan's captain for the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 cycle after taking over the reins from Babar Azam last week.

Left-handed opening batter Saim Ayub has earned his maiden call-up to the Test team after an impressive run in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24. The 22-year-old scored 553 runs in four matches for Karachi Whites and had three centuries to his name, including a match-winning double century against Faisalabad in the final of the tournament. He continued his form in the Pakistan Cup (one-day tournament), where he was named the best batter of the tournament, ending as the competition’s highest run-getter.

Right-arm fast bowler Khurram Shahzad has also been awarded his maiden Test call-up, on the back of a successful domestic season thus far. The 23-year-old was the highest wicket-taker of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24 with 36 wickets in eight matches at an average of 20.31 and picked up 13 wickets at 16.62 in the recently concluded Pakistan Cup.

Pace bowling all-rounder Faheem Ashraf, who last appeared in Tests for Pakistan during England’s tour of Pakistan in late 2022 has returned to the squad.

Left-arm pacer Mir Hamza, who registered 32 wickets at 20.88 in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24, and right-arm pacer Mohammad Wasim Jnr are making a return to the squad as well. The two fast bowlers were part of Pakistan’s squad during New Zealand’s tour of Pakistan that took place from December 2022 to January 2023.

Pakistan squad for Australia Tests: Shan Masood (captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi

Chief selector Wahab Riaz, reflecting on the squad selected for the Australia tour, said: “The squad has been assembled keeping in mind the challenging Australian conditions. 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.

“Saim Ayub has been added to the squad after the extraordinary domestic season he has had this year. 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.

“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.”

The squad will assemble in Rawalpindi on 22 November for a training camp ahead of the tour. The camp is scheduled to run from 23 to 28 November at Pindi Cricket Stadium. The team will fly out on 30 November from Lahore. Some additional players have also been invited to feature in the training camp. The players called for the camp are Arshad Iqbal, Kashif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usama Mir and Usman Qadir.

Full schedule:

1st Test – Perth, 14-18 December 2023

2nd Test – Melbourne, 26-30 December 2023

3rd Test – Sydney, 3-7 January 2024


View attachment 139298

How do you rate this test squad for Australia tour?
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Why was Mohammad Huraira dropped?
 
shamaan said:
I think he should have added Kamran Ghullam and Sameen Gull in the squad.

My xi now would be

Imaam
Abdullah
Babar
Shan
Saud Shakeel
Rizwan
Fahim Ashraf
Wasim Jnr/Jamal
Shaheen
Abrar Ahmed
Khurram Shezad

Agha Salman will get smashed as a spinner.
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Dropping the Player of the Series in the last series we played?

Perth has a new stadium. The pitch there is not as fast as it was in WACA.

India played 2 spinners in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney when they toured.

Salman at 7, and also have Abrar in the team
And 3 fast bowlers should be the team we pick in the 3 tests. The top 6 you have already mentioned.

So I saw no point in picking Faheem unless he bats at 8. And is one of the 3 fast bowlers
But is he that good a bowler?
 
Whatever Pakistan would've selected. It won't be good enough to win, let alone draw a test match in Australia.

But still if I were to try and mix match an XI. I would probably go;

1. Abdullah
2. Shan (c)
3. Saud / Babar
4. Babar / Saud
5. Salman
6. Sarfraz / Rizwan
7. Faheem / Wasim Jr
8. Jamal
9. Hasan
10. Shaheen
11. Abrar
 
Marooned said:
Mir Hamza as we saw has difficulty even hitting 130k, what is he going to do in Aus?
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I think he's just there as a backup for Shaheen since management (if there's any right now), probably thinks he can provide that left arm option in Shaheen's absence.
 
Mamoon said:
If Masood was smart, he would drop himself to number 4 and play Babar at 3.

Masood is a proven failure in the top 3. He will never average more than 32-33 opening or batting at 3, but perhaps Mr. Zero Talent can get a new life at 4 which is relatively easier position to bat at.
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That makes sense given Babar's solid technique. Would also make more sense to drop Imam for Saim. Pakistan has nothing to gain for the future by playing Imam.
 
1. Imam
2. Abdullah
3. Masood
4. Babar
5. Saud
6. Faheem
7. Sarfraz
8. Hasan
9. Wasim jr
10. Khurram Shehzad
11. Abrar

No point playing Shaheen, let him rest and recover.
 
adi_62941 said:
I think we never sent our settled team to Australia. We always sent weak sides full of youngsters to Australia. Maybe something to do with the schedule timing of the tour.
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We have mostly had chaotic changes just before or a few months before the tour.

We use Australia tour as a point to restrat.
 
Seems like they still aren't content with giving shaheen enough rest and recovery.
This was never going to be a chance to boost our WTC points tally, give the poor guy some time out and let him get back to his best.
 
Bowling looks really weak. Anything less than 3-0 aus would be a surprise. We might if we try our best manage to draw one game, but that’s about it.
 
Shan Masood seems like a baqra picked from the baqra mandi, ready to be sacked after this tour for a new captain to be picked with the toughest tour for Pak out of the way.
 
Suleiman said:
Shan Masood seems like a baqra picked from the baqra mandi, ready to be sacked after this tour for a new captain to be picked with the toughest tour for Pak out of the way.
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No hafeez and wahab clearly said he will captain irrespective of result
 
Major said:
On merit Khurram Shezad is a good selection, because in domestic this guy is performing well, but his lack of pace in Australian bouncy wickets will be an issue. Aamir Jamal is also a great selection as he is an allrounder we should focus on.

I think instead of faheem ashraf, they should had selected Shahnawaz Dahani
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Most likely the same thing will happen to these new guys that have been selected for domestic performances, where they sit on the bench for multiple series and then randomly get dropped without getting a game to play. Hurraira, Kamran Ghulam, and Tayyab Tahir are the most recent players I can remember that this has happened to. I would love to see a list of players in the last 3 years of players that were dropped without them getting to play even one game.
 
Lets be honest, with or without Naseem & Shaheen, Bowling is going to struggle. Batting need to perform consistently. If we manage good totals in both inning, Chances of securing a draw are likely. in a 3 test series in Australia, I am content loosing 1 nil.
 
I don’t know how tall Khurram Shahzad or Mir Hamza are. Musa is pint-sized and was a predictable flop on the last tour.

But Shani Dahani is tall and can bowl 140 kph. He didn’t have a good QeA Trophy, but might have had a better chance on Aus pitches.
 
It's an ok squad but we'll be blanked 3-0 anyway

Abdullah
Saim
Babar
Shan
Saud
Agha
Rizwan
Faheem
Jamal/wasim
Shaheen
Khurram/Hamza/Hasan/Abrar (In Sydney Abrar should play)
 
hur rizvi said:
It's an ok squad but we'll be blanked 3-0 anyway

Abdullah
Saim
Babar
Shan
Saud
Agha
Rizwan
Faheem
Jamal/wasim
Shaheen
Khurram/Hamza/Hasan/Abrar (In Sydney Abrar should play)
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Strange!!! You just have chosen 1 spinner
 
Faheem ashraf is bowling equivalent of shan masood... Both are club level players, both are undroppable....
Bowling looks pretty weak...
 
Suleiman said:
Shan Masood seems like a baqra picked from the baqra mandi, ready to be sacked after this tour for a new captain to be picked with the toughest tour for Pak out of the way.
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We haven't won any test (or test series) in Australia for a very long time. I don't think any Pakistani captain has lost his job after losing to Australia in Australia. Then why should Shaan Massod be considered "Qubani ka Bakra"?

1700494491247.png
 
SaimFan said:
Saim is an excellent selection. Him and Huraira are the future in tests.

Hope we see the last of Imam this tour.

Faheem, Hasan, Mir will get smashed. Hope they just carry drinks. You need pace in Australian pitches, even Boult, Southee get smashed.
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Agree that those three will be smashed but it's not just because of the pace but because they're all rather short too. That's why Abbas Afridi needed to be there in place of one of those trundlers.
 
Third Man said:
He's right, though. He's a poor man's Haris Rauf.
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How else do you want to try and build a fast bowling all rounder for Pakistan?

By not even trying to build one? And just continuously writing off his batting abilities?
 
Naseem in SENA is amongst the worst bowlers in history. Absolutely embarrassing numbers.
 
Third Man said:
Agree that those three will be smashed but it's not just because of the pace but because they're all rather short too. That's why Abbas Afridi needed to be there in place of one of those trundlers.
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Abbas Afridi is a great idea for white-ball cricket. His time in red ball is not there yet. In T20s, he doesn't breach 140 kph. He's in the same category as Khurram SHahzad. Same pace as Mir Hamza except the latter has the experience of 400 FC wickets.

I would have liked to see Dahani picked for this tour. He has height and passes 140 kph regularly. Even though he didn't do well in QeA Trophy. You need a horses for courses selection for tours like Aus.
 
Rana said:
How else do you want to try and build a fast bowling all rounder for Pakistan?

By not even trying to build one? And just continuously writing off his batting abilities?
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We definitely need a fast bowling all-rounder but Aamer Jamal doesn't have the control for test cricket. I'm totally fine with developing him in white ball cricket. For this tour I would've liked to see Abbas Afridi tried. To be fair he could've come in place of Hasan/Faheem as well.
 
pakdude said:
Abbas Afridi is a great idea for white-ball cricket. His time in red ball is not there yet. In T20s, he doesn't breach 140 kph. He's in the same category as Khurram SHahzad. Same pace as Mir Hamza except the latter has the experience of 400 FC wickets.

I would have liked to see Dahani picked for this tour. He has height and passes 140 kph regularly. Even though he didn't do well in QeA Trophy. You need a horses for courses selection for tours like Aus.
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Horses for courses is exactly why I mentioned Abbas Afridi. He's tall, has a high arm action and the pace isn't as slow as you think. He is in the range of 135-140, which is good enough if you have control and movement.
 
This is regrettably one of the weakest bowling sides we will be taking to Australian tours. In the past our batting has been the biggest concern however looking at the squad announced I feel Australians might even play a B side in last test match as I don't see our capability to pick 20 wickets in a test match.

One has to question our management and especially our medical team. Pakistan cricket team arguably missed out on their best bowler Naseem Shah and even Ihsanullah (best PSL find) on fitness grounds in world cup and now for Australian tour. How poor our management of players have been that we are not able to put together our best XI for important tournaments and series. On top of that we have now made Shaheen the captain of T20s and I don't see it far off now that Shaheen would be injured playing a useless T20 in near future and either miss an important world tournament or a SENA test series similar to Naseem Shah. We simply never learn.

To add to the misery of losing out on our premier bowlers we have selected the following 130k bowlers who simply do not possess any threat of their own. We have Hasan Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim, Mir Hamza, Amir Jamal and Khurram Shahzad in our test squad. Its simply mind boggling to see that we have got 6 bowlers of similar attributes in a test squad of 18. How short sighted we are or our management is. The 6 bowlers called out above have similar height, similar speeds, similar nature of bowlers they are and similarly useless with the bat. This has to be one of the most pathetic selection of fast bowlers in a squad.

Personally I would have preferred Hasnain, Zaman Khan or even Arshad Iqbal just to add something different in the mix rather than mirror copies of trundlers. PCB invested so much money in junior PSL last year why we can't take one of those young fast bowlers in the squad as that would do heaps of good to that player even if he doesn't play.

At the moment our bowling is Shaheen and Abrar who literally have the role now to take 15 wickets between them in a test as others will struggle to take even remaining 5.

Our batting is not that bad and as compared to bowling. The only significant concern I have is with lack of direction we have in our selections. We discarded Kamran Ghulam and Hurraira from previous squads for no obvious reason. The like of Saim Ayub has been fast tracked but I fear like always PCB rather than fast tracking him in limited overs have fast tracked him in the wrong format. Similarly Imam shouldn't have been part of this squad given his inability to play short ball. He is likely to fall to another short pitch attack. This is where either Hurraira or Kamran Ghulam could have come in handy.

The best possible XI that we can churn out from this squad will be
1. Abdullah Shafique
2. Imam ul Haq
3. Shan Masood
4. Babar Azam
5. Saud Shakeel
6. Mohammad Rizwan
7. Salman Agha
8. Hasan Ali
9. Shaheen Shah
10. Abrar Ahmed
11. Mohammad Wasim
 
Should have selected Shanawaz Dhani in the squad over Hassan Ali or even Mir Hamza.
 
Sameen Gul over Mir Hamza would have been an ideal choice , tall well built fast bowler with domestic experience under his belt and bowl around 137-142k and swings it both ways consistently throughout the day , i wonder if Wahab even knows him or not.
 
Shaheen , Khurram , Sameen and Amir Jamal would have been the best available options with Amir being the enforcer as he can crank up to 150k occasionally.
 
saqib.rai said:
Dropping the Player of the Series in the last series we played?

Perth has a new stadium. The pitch there is not as fast as it was in WACA.

India played 2 spinners in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney when they toured.

Salman at 7, and also have Abrar in the team
And 3 fast bowlers should be the team we pick in the 3 tests. The top 6 you have already mentioned.

So I saw no point in picking Faheem unless he bats at 8. And is one of the 3 fast bowlers
But is he that good a bowler?
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The conditions suited him these conditions won't suit him.the pitch is still as fast as any pitch in the world even if it isn't as fast as it used to be.

India two spinners are also half decent batters pakistan spinners are tailenders with the bat.

Australia will likely get 400+ going in with 4 man attack will exhaust the bowlers and then we complain that our bowlers always get injured pluss Agha won't be able to bowl 15 overs a day and if does he will go at a high run rate.

I went with 4 fast bowlers with 1 spinners.Fahim and Jamal can provide useful runs down the order and can bowl some spells.
 
Pakistan Test attack bar Hassan Ali and SSA is completely novice and the duo has combined 183 wickets in 45 Tests compare that to Australia's WTC holder and 50 over WC winning trio test credentials

Starc Cummins Hazlewood combined 201 Tests 823 wickets :

Now throw in Lyon also and it piled upto
323 Tests 1319 wickets.

Do Paksitan and Australia Test teams have any comparison
 
FearlessRoar said:
Surprised to see Shaheen shah afridi in the squad. He needs rest to get back his rhythm. Bad choice
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Pakistan will suffer immensely without him. Even a half-decent Shaheen is a level above the other bowlers in the squad. What he really needs to do is take a break after this series until the World Cup in the Summer. There's not much time but he really needs to give that left arm a rest. But he won't because now he's captain and will play every match of the 5 match t20 series vs NZ and every other game and then every single PSL game and the Vitality Blast later on. This is a joke of a board. There's a reason why Starc is still around and can bowl with decent pace and movement. In his third world cup, he's been very effective and has played major roles in Australia winning it all. PCB are destroying Shaheen before he can truly lift off
 
Major said:
Based on experience

Waseem Jr has played only 7 First Class Games.
Aamir Jamal 27
Khurram Shezad 44
Mir Hamza 105

Waseem Jr looks like a bad selection.
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He could perhaps come in for 3-4 over bursts bowling full pace and white ball lines. Could be an X-factor. Excited to see what he can do.
 
Muhammad Saad said:
Sameen Gul over Mir Hamza would have been an ideal choice , tall well built fast bowler with domestic experience under his belt and bowl around 137-142k and swings it both ways consistently throughout the day , i wonder if Wahab even knows him or not.
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Seems like he will become another Tabish Khan of Pakistan Cricket.
 
Kianig89 said:
Pakistan Test attack bar Hassan Ali and SSA is completely novice and the duo has combined 183 wickets in 45 Tests compare that to Australia's WTC holder and 50 over WC winning trio test credentials

Starc Cummins Hazlewood combined 201 Tests 823 wickets :

Now throw in Lyon also and it piled upto
323 Tests 1319 wickets.

Do Paksitan and Australia Test teams have any comparison
Click to expand...
No there's no comparison. But what do you expect when Aus play more Tests in an English summer with Ashes and WTC final than Pakistan plays all year? Naseem will probably never even play 50 Tests over his entire career.

If you want to talk about Pakistan playing more Tests, then that should probably be another topic. But the way things go now, getting more Tests for Pakistan is not a priority for any cricket board. Sad but true.
 
RidiculousMan said:
Seems like he will become another Tabish Khan of Pakistan Cricket.
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You mean he will be picked well past his peak days? We have this unfortunate habit of either picking players when they're too raw (like Mohd Sami in 2001 at age 19) or well past their peak (like Mohd Sami in 2006 at age 35). Aizaz Cheema is another example.
 
No point in keeping Saim Ayub in the squad because he'll not play.
He should be playing as much cricket domestic cricket as possible at this stage
 
Pakistan lack a solid bowling allrounder , that will mean they will have to go with just four bowling options , which will hurt badly
 
pakdude said:
You mean he will be picked well past his peak days? We have this unfortunate habit of either picking players when they're too raw (like Mohd Sami in 2001 at age 19) or well past their peak (like Mohd Sami in 2006 at age 35). Aizaz Cheema is another example.
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We tend to do this more often than not. Technically speaking Mir Hamza is also past his prime.
 
I would say that this bowling lineup is arguably slightly better than the one we took under Misbah-Waqar and remember this that Naseem was highly inexperienced in that tour.

If Naseem was fit, this would have been quite a decent lineup however in his absence its a weak lineup.

What i would hope is that irrespective of the bowling, we at least bat positively and play a good brand of cricket. Even one test draw or win would be great!

Its disappointing that whenever we visit Australia, we have an unsettled team..
 
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