Pak vs Ban: PCB makes changes to squad for second Test

RAWALPINDI: As the Green Shirts prepare to play the second Test against Bangladesh, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday made a few changes in the national squad by calling in mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed and Kamran Ghulam. 

Pakistan and Bangladesh will play the second Test of the series at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from August 30 to September 3.

Abrar and Kamran were released from the Test squad before the start of the first Test match and featured for Pakistan Shaheens in a four-day game against Bangladesh 'A' at the Islamabad Club.

Pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi — who was also released from the squad at the conclusion of the first Test — has rejoined the Test side on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, Aamir Jamal, who had been released from the squad to work on his fitness at the NCA, has also been recalled. His participation in the second Test will remain subject to fitness clearance.

Pakistan played four pacers in the first Test — Shaheen, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali and Naseem Shah — as the Shan Masood-led unit wanted to go with a pace attack, but things did not go their way as they were dominated by the Bangladesh batting lineup and lost the game by 10 wickets.

As per the sources, the team management, along with senior players, were not happy with the way the pacers performed in the first Test.

It is believed inside the dressing room that the pacers could not take advantage of the grass on the pitch and their declining pace also became a matter of discussion.

During the first Test, Naseem got three wickets while Shaheen, Shahzad and Ali managed to get two wickets each but they were not enough as Bangladesh scored a plethora of runs during their first innings.

Chasing the 30-run target after bowling Pakistan out for 148 runs during their second innings, the visitors had no trouble as Zakir Hasan (15) and Shadman Islam (9) guided the visitors to the target in just 6.3 overs.

Meanwhile, in their first innings, Bangladesh scored 565 before they were all out with the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim scoring 191 runs.

Pakistan squad

Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal (subject to fitness), Abrar Ahmed, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper) and Shaheen Shah Afridi.