With Shan Masood as their new captain, Pakistan named a new team on Monday for a tough tour of Australia that starts next month. They want to get off to a good start after a terrible World Cup performance.
Pakistan placed fifth in the World Cup, losing five of their nine games. After the tournament, the country’s cricket board changed the national team and Babar Azam quit as leader of all three forms.
Mickey Arthur was fired as team director and Grant Bradburn as head coach. Mohammad Hafeez, who used to be captain, has taken over both of their jobs.
Masood was named captain of the Test team, and Shaheen Shah Afridi was named leader of the Twenty20 team.
After Inzamam-ul-Haq quit, Wahab Riaz, another former fast bowler, was named top selection. He made sure that the best players in local competitions were picked for the three-match Test trip.
“Australia is always a tough tour but we think that these players have the capability and capacity to not only do well, but come out winners.”
Pakistan has done badly in Australia, though. They have lost 14 straight Tests there, with their last win coming in 1995.
The first Test is in Perth from December 14–18. The next two are in Melbourne from December 26–30 and Sydney from January 3–7.
Khurram Shahzad, an uncapped fast bowler, is given this award because he took 36 wickets in the country’s best first-class event this year.
The fast left-hander Saim Ayub and the all-rounder Aamer Jamal have played for Pakistan in Twenty20 internationals, but they haven’t played in a five-day match yet.
The only fast bowler who has played in Australia is Shaheen. Naseem Shah was not considered because he was still healing from a shoulder injury that kept him out of the World Cup.
Squad: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Agha Salman, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, and Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain). Shan Masood is in charge.