Pakistan v Australia: New-look bowling attack expected in Test squad

The six frontline bowlers have only 12 caps between them.

KARACHI:

The national selection committee, led by chief selector Moin Khan, is planning to include uncapped medium pacer Imran Khan into the 15-man squad for the home Test series against Australia that starts on October 22. 

The 27-year-old bowler represents ZTBL and Peshawar in domestic cricket and has taken 257 wickets in 65 first-class matches with an action that is not too dissimilar from that of Umar Gul.

The Pakistan team has recently been hit by injuries as pacemen Wahab Riaz and Junaid Khan have both been ruled out of the series, while selectors do not want to include Muhammad Irfan or Umar Gul in the Test side due to doubts over their fitness with the 2015 World Cup approaching.

This has opened up opportunities for several new faces and Imran and Ehsan Adil are likely to be drafted into the squad along with Rahat Ali and Muhammad Talha to make up a relatively inexperienced pace attack.

Similarly, leg-spinner Yasir Shah will be selected and is expected to make his Test debut in this series, while left-armer Zulfiqar Babar will be the other main spinner in the side. All-rounder Muhammad Hafeez, who was recently declared fit for the Tests but may have to wear a support, will be brought in and the team management is banking on him to get some wickets with his off-spin to make up  for the void left behind by the suspended Saeed Ajmal.

Hafeez’s experience will be particularly invaluable as Pakistan’s inexperienced bowling attack may be shown up by the strong Australian batting line-up. With six Test caps to his name, Ali is the most experienced member of the attack, while Talha has three, Babar has two, Adil has one and Imran and Shah are uncapped.

However, Hafeez’s bowling record of just 35 wickets in 36 Tests at an average of 34 do not make for encouraging reading either and the selectors may come to rue the decision to drop left-armer Abdur Rehman, who has 99 wickets in 22 Tests.

The final debate among the selectors centres around who will partner Ahmed Shehzad at the top of the innings, with both Shan Masood and Taufeeq Umar hopeful of the final spot.

“Skipper Misbahul Haq and some of us feel that Taufeeq should be given a run because of his experience, while others are backing youngster Shan,” one of the selectors told The Express Tribune.

Haris Sohail made an unbeaten century for Pakistan A in the second innings of their warm-up match against Australians and will be hoping to be selected for the first match. Younus Khan is also part of the final 15, despite his tirade against the board and management for not being selected in the ODI series.

Left-handed batsman Sami Aslam, fast-bowler Ataullah and left-arm spinner Raza Hasan are the three to have faced the axe from the provisional 19-man squad that was announced on October 14, with either Masood or Taufeeq expected to suffer the same fate.

Expected Test squad

Misbahul Haq (capt), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Ahmed Shahzad, Shan Masood/Taufeeq Umar, Muhammad Hafeez, Younus Khan, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail,  Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Talha, Imran Khan and Ehsan Adil.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2014.

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