by: Syed Athar Abbas (Athar G) TN Sports News:
The Interim Selection Committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has included three players Mir Hamza, Sajid Khan and Shahnawaz Durmira in the Pakistan squad for the Test series against New Zealand. The selection committee meeting was held under the chairmanship of Shahid Afridi. In the meeting, the captain participated in the meeting with Babar Azam through a video link.
Shahid Afridi said that after a thorough discussion on the squad in the meeting, it was agreed that we need to strengthen our bowling department to give ourselves the best chance of taking 20 wickets in a match. Fast bowlers Mir Hamzah and Shahnawaz Durmani, and off-spinner Sajid Khan have been included in the national squad based on recent form and performance.
Mir Hamza took 16 wickets in four Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches while Sajid Khan took 21 wickets in seven matches. Mir Hamza’s only Test was against Australia in Abu Dhabi in October 2018, while Sajid Khan played his seventh and final Test against Australia in Lahore earlier this year. He has taken 22 wickets so far, including in Dhaka last year. Also includes 8 wickets for 42 runs against Bangladesh.
On the other hand, Shahnawaz Dhani is yet to make his Test debut. He has played two ODIs and 11 T20Is for Pakistan.
Pakistan Test Squad for the series Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Shafiq, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imamul Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mir Hamza, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Wasim Jr., Naseem Shah, Nouman Ali, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shahnawaz Durmani, Shan Masood and Zahid Mehmood are included.
