Pakistan and Australia have named squads for the long-awaited Test series in Pakistan, which will begin on March 4 in Rawalpindi.
This tour is the Australia’s first in 24 years, which will begin in Rawalpindi, with the first Test scheduled for March 4–8 and the four white-ball matches scheduled for March 29–April 5, according to a statement from the PCB.
Australia only added spinner Ashton Agar in the squad, and apart from that the Aussies management kept the same team who won the Ashes series against England.
According to the reports, not a single player requested to withdraw from the tour. Meanwhile, Australia’s ODI’s squad list will be announced later.
Australia Test Squad
- Pat Cummins (c)
- Ashton Agar
- Scott Boland
- Alex Carey
- Cameron Green
- Marcus Harris
- Josh Hazlewood
- Travis Head
- Josh Inglis
- Usman Khawaja
- Marnus Labuschagne
- Nathan Lyon
- Mitchell Marsh
- Michael Neser
- Steve Smith (vc)
- Mitchell Starc
- Mitchell Swepson
- David Warner.
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“Pakistan cricket selectors today announced 16 players and five reserves for the three Tests against Australia, which will be played in Rawalpindi (4-8 March), Karachi (12-16 March) and Lahore (21-25 March),” a statement issued by the PCB said.
According to PCB, three changes have been made to the national Test squad for Australia series.
It said that Haris Rauf, who played in the Test series against South Africa and Zimbabwe in 2021, has re-joined the squad and replaces off-spinner Bilal Asif. Meanwhile, Shan Masood, who last played in the New Zealand Test series in 2020-21, has replaced Abid Ali since he is undergoing rehabilitation after being diagnosed with Acute Coronary Syndrome. Moreover, Yasir Shah has been added to the reserve pool.
Pakistan Test squad
- Babar Azam (captain) (Central Punjab)
- Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain) (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
- Abdullah Shafique (Central Punjab)
- Azhar Ali (Central Punjab)
- Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab)
- Fawad Alam (Sindh)
- Haris Rauf (Northern)
- Hasan Ali (Central Punjab)
- Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan)
- Mohammad Nawaz (Northern)
- Nauman Ali (Northern)
- Sajid Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
- Saud Shakeel (Sindh)
- Shaheen Shah Afridi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
- Shan Masood (Balochistan)
- Zahid Mahmood (Sindh)
