Pakistan suffers a major blowback as they lose Aamir Jamal ahead of the two-match test series against Bangladesh. As a result, the Pakistan squad for the tests has been reduced to 14 players as spinner Abrar Ahmed and batter Kamran Ghulam were released over the weekend.
The 28-year-old pacer failed to recover from his back injury and has been sent to the National Cricket Academy in Lahore to continue his rehabilitation. Pakistan will enter the first test against Bangladesh with left-arm pacer Shaheen Afridi and pacer Naseem Shah who will be likely to lead the bowling group that also Khurram Shehzad and Mir Hamza.
Pakistan’s squad to take on Bangladesh has now been reduced to just 14 players.#PAKvBAN | #WTC25https://t.co/zsrvjUm3Lm
— ICC (@ICC) August 19, 2024
Aamir Jamal has been expected to challenge for a place in the playing 11 after he impressed on his debut against Australia across the new year, but his injury setback will mean the right arm will have to bid his time for a recall.
Pakistan currently sits in sixth place on the World Test Championship points table and will be looking for a victory in the series against Bangladesh to move back into contention of reaching next year’s one-off finals at Lord’s.
Meanwhile, the second test has been shifted to Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium due to renovation work that was scheduled to take place in Karachi. The first test will begin on August 21 at Rawalpindi Stadium.
Pakistan squad for Bangladesh test series: Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Afridi
