Pakistan have dropped former Test captain Shan Masood for the two-match World Test Championship series against Sri Lanka, turning to youth and domestic performers. The Pakistan Cricket Board announced a revamped 14-member squad on Saturday, with Babar Azam retaining the captaincy.
Three batters, Mohammad Taha, Mohammad Suleman and Sameer Minhas, have earned maiden Test call-ups. Taha, 26, leads the run charts in the ongoing first-class President's Trophy Grade-I with 730 runs in seven matches, including three centuries and a top score of 225. Suleman has made 652 runs in the same competition, while Sameer, who impressed for Pakistan Under-19s, has scored 405 runs in his debut first-class season.
Masood's lean run
The left-handed opener scored a century against the West Indies in Trinidad in July but managed only 161 runs in six innings across three Tests against England. He has 2,926 runs in 50 Tests at an average of 30.80. Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Aamir Jamal, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali and Sajid Khan were also left out of the initial squad, and the board gave no reasons for the omissions.
The squad: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Taha, Razaullah, Saad Baig (wicketkeeper), Salman Ali Agha, Sameer Minhas and Saud Shakeel. Two fast bowlers will be added after a three-day warm-up between a PCB Patron's XI and Sri Lanka in Islamabad from November 4 to 6. The first Test is in Rawalpindi from November 9 to 13 and the second at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium from November 17 to 21.